“This big ugly box brought to you by AT&T Project Lightspeed"

[Jonathan Kramer]

From Jonathan: The buried lead in this March 1, 2007 story from the Daily Herald is, "This big ugly box brought to you by AT&T Project Lightspeed in the name of competition.”

Yesterday, March 9, I was in Illinois. While there I drove to Naperville and asked a local policeman if the boxes were up. He laughed and directed me to one, at Edwards Hospital, shown in the photo below.



You can see Stuart's photos of the Itasca pink boxes by CLICKING HERE.

* * *

Naperville tries to box AT&T into a corner
By Jake Griffin
Daily Herald Staff Writer

Taking a cue from Itasca, Naperville leaders are placing giant boxes around the city to show residents what the landscape could look like if the state legislature takes away a municipality’s right to regulate cable franchise agreements.

Telecommunications giant AT&T is pushing for the change and now municipalities are pushing back.

Naperville announced Wednesday it will be distributing large yellow boxes around the city to demonstrate the size of AT&T’s proposed junction boxes for its new video service. Itasca officials did the same a few days ago, only they were pink in color. The boxes are about 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide.

Each box in Naperville is also emblazoned with: “This big ugly box brought to you by AT&T Project Lightspeed in the name of competition.”

City officials said the proposed state law would allow AT&T to circumvent requirements that have been put in place to ensure complete coverage of the city and fair competition among providers.

“This is a case where there is one entity that doesn’t seem to think the process works,” said Terry Miller, Naperville’s senior assistant attorney. “We don’t think there’s a need for change since it works for everyone else.”

He said the city spent six months negotiating with AT&T officials over Project Lightspeed last year when the company abruptly pulled out of negotiations. AT&T has sued several other municipalities for not allowing it to install the boxes, including Itasca.

Rob Biederman, an AT&T spokesman, said the company has been welcomed in other communities, including a recent agreement in Mundelein. He said the company was nonplussed by the box displays in Naperville and Itasca.

“Though we’re currently not in discussions with Naperville, we wish these efforts and resources would have been spent bringing cable competition to Naperville and we look forward to reaching that goal,” he said.

Last week, AT&T was accused of dirty tricks by Itasca officials for pulling the plug on phone services at village facilities shortly after the pink boxes went up. Company officials blamed the outage that only affected village buildings on a “connector glitch” that also affected systems in Bensenville.

Naperville officials don’t know how many boxes will be placed around the city or for how long. Miller said the intent is to educate the residents about the legislation.

“One day they could wake up and this could be right in front of your house,” he said.

[cablewithaview]

Look like road hazard to me. DOT here wouldn't allow anything like that in the right of way, in the name of competition or otherwise. Now everything here has to be break away.

[Jonathan Kramer]

Originally Posted by cablewithaview

Look like road hazard to me. DOT here wouldn't allow anything like that in the right of way, in the name of competition or otherwise. Now everything here has to be break away.

Jody,

It's hard to call it a right-of-way hazard if that's where AT&T is planning to put its cabinet. The locations are all behind the paved roadway, albeit that some are very close. No doubt at some time or another one will get hit. Hopefully it won't explode like the one in Texas.

jlk

[cablewithaview]

What happen in Texas? I missed something.

[Jonathan Kramer]

Originally Posted by cablewithaview

What happen in Texas? I missed something.

A DSLAM in Texas blew up.

[cablewithaview]

That's not good, does go to show that telco is not immune from having issues as well.
Now if I can get the remote changed and dslams installed here, I can get DSL.
The only other choice for me is internet satellite, which I am tired of.

[Jonathan Kramer]

http://www.multichannel.com/index.as...leid=CA6423669

Municipalities Look to Box In AT&T

By Linda Haugsted 3/12/2007 4:36:00 PM

Hot-pink and highway-yellow boxes have cropped up in at least two municipalities in Illinois as a protest of a state bill community officials believe will give AT&T total control of the placement of huge powering vaults it needs to operate its planned video service.

The boxes were constructed and placed in the village of Itasca and nearby Naperville, both in DuPage County. The pink Itasca boxes were in place beginning Feb. 21. Naperville's are in place now, bearing the message, "This big ugly box brought to you by AT&T Project Lightspeed in the name of competition."

On closer inspection, posted letters to residents explain the boxes and urge constituents to contact their state legislators to oppose HB 1500, an AT&T-supported bill that will move video franchising to the state Corporations Commission.

"This was the best way we could think of to raise awareness. It's tough to get the attention of the media," said Dan Di Santo, assistant to the Naperville city manager.
The box placement last month in Itasca resulted in 84 letters from residents to legislators opposing the bill, added Itasca city manager David C. Williams.

Representatives of both communities said they welcome competition, but they want to retain some of the authority they now have over incumbent operators.

Last year, Naperville tried to reach an agreement to bring AT&T's Project Lightspeed infrastructure project to town. Itasca put a moratorium on infrastructure permits in advance of any power-box placement by AT&T.

Itasca and a handful of other Illinois communities that delayed or considered delaying permitting were sued in federal court by AT&T. Williams said those suits are "grinding along," although the box stunt attracted outreach from the telco to possibly open talks in the community.

[cablewithaview]

Cities Go Guerilla To Fight Pro-AT&T Franchising Bill

By Linda Haugsted 3/19/2007
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The competition between cable and telephone companies for customers has been marked by guerilla stunts such as advertisements in pizza boxes and come-ons on dry cleaning bags. But now two Illinois municipalities have gotten into the guerrilla game to protest a bill they believe will strip them of needed local authority over video providers.

Hot-pink and highway-yellow boxes have cropped up in the DuPage County, Ill., towns of Naperville and Itasca to protest HB1500, which officials in those suburban Chicago communities believe will give AT&T total control of the placement of huge powering vaults it needs to operate its planned video service.

The pink Itasca boxes — 63 inches high, 43 inches wide and 25 inches deep — were in place beginning Feb. 21 and were deployed for just one week. Naperville's are in place now, bearing the message “This big ugly box brought to you by AT&T Project Lightspeed in the name of competition.”

On closer inspection, posted letters to residents explain the boxes and urge constituents to contact their state legislators to oppose HB 1500, an AT&T-supported bill that will move video franchising authority to the state Corporations Commission.

“This was the best way we could think of to raise awareness. It's tough to get the attention of the media,” said Dan Di Santo, assistant to the Naperville city manager.

Brad Mays of public-relations firm Fleishman-Hillard, speaking on AT&T's behalf, said the San Antonio-based telco is working closely with municipalities to meet local ordinances regarding placement of the vaults, adding the telephone company chooses locations that are as conducive as possible to neighborhood aesthetics. AT&T uses public rights-of-way and easements where the company has existing legal rights to placement.

AT&T's placement of the power vaults, referred to as 52Bs by the telephone company, is not the only gripe that cities have with the bill.

Municipal officials believe that the bill:

* Lacks provisions to ensure access to services by low-income residents;
* Has weak build-out compliance language;
* Gives AT&T eminent domain and condemnation powers and gives the telephone company access to all property, including residential parcels.

They also believe they'll lose revenue, as the bill does not require a new entrant to include revenue from home-shopping commissions, late fees or advertising compensation in calculating the gross revenue on which a 5% franchise fee must be paid. Incumbent operators pay fees on the latter.

The fake box demonstration was inspired by Itasca, which in the past had used a similar tactic to gain concessions from the Illinois Department of Transportation. That agency considered widening a thoroughfare through the village, and officials placed stakes adjacent to the road to show locals just how wide the road would be, said village administrator David C. Williams.

The protest resulted in a “satisfactory compromise” on the widening project, Williams said.

The box placement last month in Itasca resulted in 84 letters from residents to legislators opposing the bill, added Williams.

Last year, Naperville tried to reach an agreement to bring AT&T's Project Lightspeed infrastructure project to town. Itasca put a moratorium on infrastructure permits, while it studied issues such as power box placement in advance of a proposal by the phone company.


Help In an 'Ugly Box' - 3/19/2007 - Multichannel News

[cablewithaview]

You can see Stuart's photos of the Itasca pink boxes by CLICKING HERE.


Doesn't work JK.

I read were AT&T is looking to spend $400 milion in Alabama to install these things and offer the service. They are trying to get out of rental fees for placing these things on peoples properties, but for the size of these things, I would want some money monthly myself to help to ease the pain of my view being blocked.