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Two Cities Ask the FCC To Preempt State Laws Banning Municipal Fiber Internet
Jason Koebler writes Two cities—Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Wilson, North Carolina—have officially asked the federal government to help them bypass state laws banning them from expanding their community owned, gigabit fiber internet connections. In states throughout the country, major cable and telecom companies have battled attempts to create community broadband networks, which they claim put them at a competitive disadvantage. The FCC will decide if its able to circumvent state laws that have been put in place restricting the practice.
Vote out the scumbags at the state capitol that passed such a law
major cable and telecom companies have battled attempts to create community broadband networks, which they claim put them at a competitive disadvantage.
Complete bullshit.
No - they are right. Municipal broadband might have good customer service and actual high speed connections, which would be a serious competitive disadvantage to entities like Comcast, who do not want to have to match those.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
A tale of two cities who subsequently found their mayors and city council ousted in the next election by a multi million dollar political campaign whos donors coincidentally happen to be in "battled attempts to create community broadband networks." These cities later rescind their request, disband the municipal network, and offer local cable companies a grant for unspecified improvements. cable rates increase, another batch of phone support goes to india, and somewhere, in a tropical land far away, a man on a yacht begins a tireless and agonizing journey into the wineroom to select an elusive vintage that can pair with both lobster as well as filet mignon.
Good people go to bed earlier.
As a Wilson Resident, I can say confidently...
The local bank (BB&T) couldn't get speeds fast enough to do business.
The city ran fiber and put in great speeds - residential basic is 10/10 and business is even better.
Time Warner - the local incumbent cable cried bloody murder while they offered nothing close.
Any problems? call a local number and talk to someone local and problem gets solved.
Wow you really added to the discussion there.
FTA:
Last week, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the Tennessee Republican who has received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the cable and telecommunications industry, introduced an amendment to a key appropriations bill that would prevent the FCC from preempting such state laws.
Samsung took back my unlocked bootloader because Google wants me to rent movies. They're both evil.
The Chattanooga fiber network (electric power board provided - owned by the local city government) competes with comcast and at&t for internet, tv and telephone service. When you have a problem you call a local number and speak to a local person.... not someone two states away or a different country in some cases. And yes, the fiber here is legit. You get the speeds you pay for.
except most of these laws come from republican controlled state legislatures.
Oh, you want a local internet utility to compete with your shoddy telco monopoly? Can't allow that.
Oh, you want a local minimum wage higher than the state or federal minimum? Can't allow that.
Oh, you want a local employment non-discrimination law? Can't allow that.
Oh, you want any of a dozen other topics we oppose as a local level? Can't allow that.
Welcome to the The GOP: the party of small government, handling things that lowest or local level...unless we oppose it.
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Actually, communities tend to run infrastructure remarkably well. Look at water systems. When is the last time you were in a location with city water, turned on the tap, and nothing came out? (Assuming you weren't cut off for lack of payment, of course.) Towns know how to keep the water flowing. If a town is without water for a period of time, it makes national news. (Yes, there are developing nations that do not have potable water coming out of their taps. The US is not one of those nations, and this is a US topic.)
Governments are not incapable of running such a program, and they are not inherently guaranteed to suck at it.
Now, is this different because it will require tech support? Sure. Are cities prepared to deal with the calls, the service interruptions, the network attacks, etc? The cities that are asking are going into this eyes wide open. The FCC is not mandating that cities must carry their own networks, they are simply being asked to rule on a non-competition clause that unfairly prevents the city itself from providing said competition.
I think the biggest problem the cable companies face is that cities now know exactly how much it costs to run a network, and it's nothing like the extortionate rates the cable companies are charging today. If the city has a competent manager leading the project, and good engineering staff, they will deliver fast data along with great customer service at a price that is not only going to be competitive, it's going to dominate. Everyone wins, except for the shareholders of the cable companies - and as they've been winning for a couple of decades already, my sympathy for their plight is not exactly overwhelming.
John
Sure it might be better, but it definitely can be much worse.
Worse than no high speed broadband service? Wilson built their system because Time Warner and others refused to. So, the city decided to solve the problem themselves. When you refuse to serve a community, you can't complain about 'unfair competition' when they decide to serve themselves.
(Time Warner thanks you for your loyalty)