Time Warner Cable Muni-Fiber Killing Bill Moves Forward All Progress Made On Making NC Bill More Reasonable Stripped Thursday Mar 24 2011 07:51 EDT For the fourth time in four years, Time Warner Cable is pushing for a bill in North Carolina that would bury community fiber projects in bureaucratic red tape -- the goal being to stop successful fiber to the home projects deployed in Salisbury and Wilson, both of which offer a superior product to Time Warner Cable's own. While originally the bill's supporters appeared flexible to things like excluding existing fiber builds from the law -- or excluding areas that couldn't get 4 Mbps speeds -- Time Warner Cable and friends have managed to get all of those exceptions dropped, and the bill has passed the North Carolina legislature's Finance Committee. quote:
During debate of H.129, the anti-Community Broadband bill, North Carolina consumer interests were kept out of sight and mind as lobbyists worked their magic to get rid of Rep Bill Faison’s (D-Caswell, Orange) amendment that would set the state’s minimum acceptable definition of broadband at 4Mbps with a 1Mbps upload speed. With the help of several flip-flopping representatives, they got their wish. Faison’s amendment was designed to open the door to someone — anyone – to bring broadband into rural areas of the state. While Time Warner Cable, AT&T, and CenturyLink dawdle, large numbers of rural residents simply go without any broadband service.
Regional politicians meanwhile are breathlessly defending criticism that they've been paid to pass the bill by incumbent ISPs, despite the fact they're precisely parroting company talking points. None of them can really answer why community rights should be stripped when they move to overcome market failure -- deploying upgraded infrastructure nobody else will due to a lack of serious competition. The bill now goes to the House floor, where locals involved in the fight tell us Time Warner Cable has the votes. The NC Senate will start driving their companion bill (S87) immediately, and it appears they also have the votes. |
 Matt3All noise, no signal.
Premium Member
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
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Matt3
Premium Member
2011-Mar-24 10:37 am
Letter I Sent to My RepI sent this a week or more ago and of course, have not received a response. quote:
Mr. Faircloth,
I am a young technology professional who has lived in Guilford County since age 3. I am concerned about the impact of House Bill 129[1] on the citizens, businesses, and educational institutions in our area.
In vast swaths of the state, we have access to very slow, yet very expensive, internet broadband service. If you look at where our state ranks based upon the actual "speed" delivered to citizens, we're ranked 34th in the nation.[2] If you choose a much better metric, "value" (price per Mbps of speed delivered), we are ranked 29th -- with the average citizen paying $6.63 per Mbps of speed delivered.[3] In Guilford County the situation is even worse, as we pay on average $7.58 per Mbps delivered. That shifts the citizens of Guilford County to 40th place in the nation based upon price per Mbps.
Banning local municipalities from delivering service in areas that are underserved, as we are in Guilford County, is a disservice to the citizens of our state and goes against the spirit that our country was founded upon; that is the right of local government to step in and provide a needed service that its citizens want.
If you look at other cable operators around the country or in non-AT&T areas served by Verizon, they have been rolling out next generation high speed internet connectivity for years now. Even comparatively tiny North State Communications offers next generation broadband, as I have access to fiber optic service, at symmetrical speeds, for an extremely reasonable $2.74 per Mbps of speed delivered. From North State Communications, I can purchase a 20Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload internet connection for what I would pay for a 7Mbps download and 384Kbps (that's .384 Mbps) upload connection from Time Warner.
I am vehemently against government regulation of private business in all but the most egregious situations, but banning citizens of a municipality from exercising their Constitutional right to vote to improve their lives is appalling.
I hope the serious nature of this matter is impressed upon you and you take action to prevent North Carolina's future from becoming beholden to AT&T and Time Warner.
Thank for for your time.
Respectfully,
(Address Removed)
1. »www.ncga.state.nc.us/Ses ··· 29v1.pdf
2. »www.netindex.com/downloa ··· -States/
3. »www.netindex.com/value/2 ··· -States/
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