The incredible wave of negative publicity from Time Warner's (now postponed) plan for bandwidth caps on all of their broadband internet plans has barely died down. That isn't stopping the increasingly despised ISP from giving people another reason to hate them, though. This time around, Time Warner is lobbying the North Carolina state senate to pass laws that would cripple highly competitive community broadband providers and even disqualify them from receiving federal aid from the proposed national stimulus plan. A while back, the city of Wilson, North Carolina approached both Time Warner and local provider Embarq asking them to provide higher internet access speeds to residents of the city. Unwilling to cut into their profit margins, both companies rejected the proposal. The city, determined to increase the speeds of broadband access, decided to then create Greenlight Inc, a city run fiber optic network providing very affordable high speed internet, cable TV, and VOIP access to all of the city's residents. The problem? It was TOO affordable in the eyes of Time Warner and Embarq as neither company could compete, price wise, with the government effort. In one example, a Greenlight plan that consists of 81 cable TV channels, 10mbps (up and down) internet access, and unlimited VOIP costs residents of the city $99. A comparable plan, with six fewer channels and slower internet speeds, from Time Warner would start at an introductory rate of $137 which then gets increased after the promotional period is over.
Unfortunately, Time Warner's persistence and financial backing seem to be convincing quite a few state leaders. While no final vote has been taken yet, these new anti-competition laws are gaining support from both Republicans and Democrats in the state senate. The city of Wilson is trying its best to fight back. They have started their own blog to bring the public's attention to the issue and to persuade state leaders to reject the Time Warner backed initiative. Wilson residents, the city government, and most people outside of the Time Warner bubble are hoping Wilson can win this war.
And it really doesn't matter how much bad PR they build, because they are still going to be most of their customers' only option.
Name a single huge, underhanded conglomerate that isn't a menace to society? There aren't any, they are all out to profit by any means they can get away with. They destroy fair competition, run themselves into the ground by mismanagement and corruption, and then demand a government bailout.
Yeah, what's amazing is that they could afford to build the infrastructure and everything themselves and still keep it reasonably priced. One can argue that they aren't factoring in profit (Which when does the government not), but they can't argue the cost involved, which Time Warner would not have...
Desjardins Group, which is a financial service cooperative. Each member has an equal voice on what to do with the benefits.
...and simple people like our neighbours works in it and contributes to that menace every day by making small mean choices, you know, with "I am just doing my job" attitude.
The melodrama is killing me...
And yet it is true....too damn true.
Not that I don't think its a good idea, just adds a twist to the situation.
10Mbps Tier 10 Mbps 10 Mbps $34.95
20Mbps Tier 20 Mbps 20 Mbps $54.95
40Mbps Tier 40 Mbps 40 Mbps $99.95
60Mbps Tier 60 Mbps 60 Mbps $199.95
100Mbps Tier 100 Mbps 100 Mbps $299.95
WOW
In the UK I have 10Mb down / 1Mb up and no cap for less than 10 dollars. Oh, no throttling either.
ISPs seriously like to milk you over there, don't they?
The government should be afraid of their people, not the people afraid of their government.
It is just greed. They want to force you to choose between their internet or nothing at all. That way, they can price it however they want and keep your service nice and slow.
Gotta suck for the people living in those particular states.
Understand where Time Warner is coming from, here. It's pretty tough to compete with an entity that has no need and probably no intent on turning a profit. That's certainly not a level playing field. Everyone likes the idea of cheap internet, but how do you feel about the government being in control of it? I think we all know how well the government runs things!
I believe those are more like agreements to make sure that laying fiber and copper end up being profitable and sustainable for the companies that lay them. It's an "I'll go to the expense of installing this crap if you can guarantee me that I'll recoup my costs over the next few years by not letting others encroach on my territory." Without those deals, I think you'd see less growth of infrastructure- especially in sparsely populated areas.
TWC should not be able to demand that an ISP be "banned" just because they can't compete with their prices. That is silly.
TWC should not be able to demand that an ISP be "banned" just because they can't compete with their prices. That is silly.
If I understand it, they're not asking for a ban on such a thing. If you want to go with the grocery parallel, it would be odd, but your city could make an agreement with a grocery store who buys acres upon acres of land and cultivates it in order to provide fresh, locally-grown produce for the town in exchange for disallowing farming co-ops in the city limits for x years.
There is a huge difference between Local government and Federal government. Remember that, always.
Okay, folks, this is a bit dry but here's what happened today. I would have posted sooner, but couldn't get a decent wireless signal in the legislative office building.
House Bill 1252, the one that would prevent local governments from providing better broadband in NC was -not- voted on today in the Science and Technology Committee. But Brian, you ask, isn't that where the sponsors were? Yes, it is. But, after talking about several amendments to the bill and hearing from our Mayor and the Mayor of Salisbury, a substitute motion was made to send the bill ‘without prejudice' to the House Utility Committee. The term ‘without prejudice' means they weren't recommending passage or denial, just sending it to another committee.
While this is better than it could have been, the fight isn't over. Now, the utility committee takes it up and we all start over.
Here's the part that really surprised me. Several times, members of the committee asked bill sponsors Rep. Ty Harrell (Wake) and Rep. Thom Tillis (Mecklenburg) for clarification. The lawmakers turned to a Time Warner staff member and an attorney who represents the industry to speak on their behalf. You read that right. The sponsors, elected by their communities, had to ask a Time Warner rep to clarify what their own bill said.
Anyway, the debate goes to the Utility Committee. Thanks to Rep. Phillip Haire (Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain Counties) for making the substitute motion that the bill go to another committee.
Thanks to YOU or your encouragement as we continue this battle (as our Mayor puts it) of David versus Goliath and all his cousins.
Here's the part that really surprised me. Several times, members of the committee asked bill sponsors Rep. Ty Harrell (Wake) and Rep. Thom Tillis (Mecklenburg) for clarification. The lawmakers turned to a Time Warner staff member and an attorney who represents the industry to speak on their behalf. You read that right. The sponsors, elected by their communities, had to ask a Time Warner rep to clarify what their own bill said.
...
*blink* Who's writing the bill? It might be legitimate to have a company rep or attorney speak regarding reasons for a bill, but for clarification of its contents? That does seem silly. I wonder if this is anything out of the ordinary.
"Capitalism is GREAT but it has a horrible tendency to CORRUPT."
Don't get me wrong - I love capitalism. I just hate the fact that it runs on the honor system. The honor system is broken with no chance of being repaired in our time. It's all "me, me, me" from here on out. Shame, shame.
Greenlight, come to my city. I want my 10Mbps up!
Prices:
20Mbps Tier 20 Mbps/20 Mbps $54.95
40Mbps Tier 40 Mbps/40 Mbps $99.95
60Mbps Tier 60 Mbps/60 Mbps $199.95
100Mbps Tier 100 Mbps/100 Mbps $299.95
My only other option is AT&T which I work for but they only offer 3mb down and 256k up for $45 and personally AT&T sux.
Last edited by NoLiMiT06 on 24 Apr 2009 - 00:58
The city built their own network, they aren't using Timer Warner's network.
I think a lot of cities & towns can learn from Greenlight, remember if you build it they will come.
Just where does everyone think that the city fathers of Wilson are going to get the capital for Greenlight, hmm? As a super high-speed ISP, there will be massive capital costs, inasmuch as the new system will not be able to hitchhike on the existing power and telephone lines. New overhead and underground lines will have to be laid, and the money for such a largr project will have to come out either new taxes, or a new bond-issue. Adding a new tax in a severe recession is about as smart as a doctor prescribing strychnine to a poisoning victim. If people had trouble paying their ISP bills before, just wait until their city tries to provide them with reduced-cost high-speed Internet access! While it will be [u]years[u] before Wilson gets all the necessary cable laid, the taxes for the non-existent service will start right away - ingenius! By the time the cable gets laid, many of the Wilson residents will have been rendered too broke by the taxes for the "cheap" service to afford it. "What about that bond-issue that you mentioned?" Glad you asked. In case you have not heard, the nation's banks, the institutions that front the money for bond-issues, are not doing so well these days. In other words: There is no money for a new large-capital investment right now. The only thing that Wilson can succeed doing in the short-term is raise people's taxes in the face of an economic downturn. Smart. Real smart.
Just where does everyone think that the city fathers of Wilson are going to get the capital for Greenlight, hmm? As a super high-speed ISP, there will be massive capital costs, inasmuch as the new system will not be able to hitchhike on the existing power and telephone lines. New overhead and underground lines will have to be laid, and the money for such a largr project will have to come out either new taxes, or a new bond-issue. Adding a new tax in a severe recession is about as smart as a doctor prescribing strychnine to a poisoning victim. If people had trouble paying their ISP bills before, just wait until their city tries to provide them with reduced-cost high-speed Internet access! While it will be [u]years[u] before Wilson gets all the necessary cable laid, the taxes for the non-existent service will start right away - ingenius! By the time the cable gets laid, many of the Wilson residents will have been rendered too broke by the taxes for the "cheap" service to afford it. "What about that bond-issue that you mentioned?" Glad you asked. In case you have not heard, the nation's banks, the institutions that front the money for bond-issues, are not doing so well these days. In other words: There is no money for a new large-capital investment right now. The only thing that Wilson can succeed doing in the short-term is raise people's taxes in the face of an economic downturn. Smart. Real smart.
No. The funds for constructing the fiber network come from bonds issued by the City of Wilson. Tax revenues are not being used to fund this project in any way.
Source: http://www.greenlightnc.com/about/faq/
Libertarianism Makes You Stupid
The current economic crisis in America more than bares this out.
There is no right or wrong answer, a mixture of policies works best.
There is no right or wrong answer, a mixture of policies works best.
China is not a socialist country, its a communist country. Big difference. Canada is a socialistic country.
BTW, people were being greatly oppressed in China long before communism came about and in fact they are much better off now then they were before. That's the irony of it all. You really should study some history.
Only 4 other countries, in the West, pay lower taxes than the average American does. And it shows.......... 70% of America's infrastructure is deemed unsafe.
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.