Making a case for the ''Lawyers' Relief Act" of 2004 There is substantial pressure from a variety of sources to get broadband to the home/office. Bell South, SBC and Verizon have common standards for broadband to the last mile. Orders are tendered. It's a start. It is now time for the U.S. Congress to pass legislation placing a federal tax on computer chips that enable devices to talk to one another. If it has the capability of being made to talk - it's taxed. The money must flow only to a broadband pool. Maybe NECA. It could be called the Lawyers Relief Act of 2004. This tax could expire (sunset) on reaching $100 billion. (The interstate highway system, finished in 1970, cost $114 billion). Doing this will ease the pressure for tax money to fund all the weird schemes to empower municipalities going into hock to construct fiber networks to duplicate public utility facilities. In the end, the current approach guarantees a higher public cost. But the groundswell of voices wants relief today - get the fiber distribution completed! The usual rate-of-return applies for company investment, but dole money avoids UNE arguments. Some courts believe BOC hands have been bound too tightly. Maybe so. Telephone utilities must be accorded slack to permit investing to fund the explosive demands of the public for bandwidth. As I said back in Dec. 2001, "let the work groups begin." The ship was then leaking. It's now starting to sink. It's time for all of us to accept this challenge. Enlighten Congress to enable this legislation. Tomorrow will be too late. Billing Traffic? How does one identify and bill cellular and CLEC's for the costs of hauling their traffic by we little telcos? Or suppose it's within an MTA and does not touch an IXC? Again, it hits a regional toll tandem but no IXC is involved. If there was an IXC we could charge except it comes as feature group C (FGC) with no identification. For some years Utah rurals have been banging away at Qwest to get it to mandate identification from what we call the deadbeat carriers that sneak their traffic into our systems. In a recent conference with Qwest, officials asked why Utah doesn't do what Montana did a year ago. Seems that state enacted a law mandating all carriers had to identify their traffic in real time (SS7). And it's working. They can identify the traffic. Of course, actually getting paid is another matter. As I write this, all the independents and Qwest are highballing a bill through the Utah legislature to see if the "me too" force of law will help. Business Clubs Business folk in hundreds of cities have rather formal associations that provide a privately corseted place to lunch/dinner or share a pint in a closeness of the British Pub, or the ambiance Howard Schultz achieves at Starbucks. (Those "business clubs" could enrich their members satisfaction by a close look at Starbucks.) I mention this because Park City, the ski resort near Salt Lake that is home to the annual Sundance Film Festival hosted by Robert Redford was (over a hundred years ago) home to millionaires created from the gold and silver dug from the miles of caverns and caves which still exist down below. And they created a business club, the Alta Club, now in Salt Lake City, across from the LDS Temple in the middle of town. The more than 400 business members rehabbed the third floor to a hotel and leased the rooms to the French for the Olympics. Those rooms and the associated Internet access, café bar, reading and pool rooms are available to visitors. Car parking is a half-block away. Should any of you wish to avail yourselves of these fine accommodations, call. Tell 'em I recommended you. © Beehive Telephone Co.