Municipal ReportIllinois citizens pay the price ( old news - 11:21AM Friday Oct 31 2003) tags: alternatives · cableResidents of three Illinois cities voted down an attempt to create a municipal cable and broadband system, now they're facing yet another round of rate hikes by their incumbent cable provider. The cities of Geneva, Batavia, and St. Charles, faced a significant misinformation campaign from SBC and Comcast when they attempted to deploy a $60 million dollar municipal cable system. SBC sent regional employees e-mails (pdf copy) tying success of the system to potential job losses. Comcast took out entire full page ads in the local paper claiming that municipal projects were usually financial failures, even citing 'failure' in Tacoma, Washington - one of the regions that has birthed the successful Click! Network, and some of the lowest cable and broadband prices in the country. Both SBC and Comcast also funded a "survey", which neither company would release publicly. Broadband Reports managed to obtain a copy of this survey. Marketing departments were calling area residents asking them questions such as "Should tax money be allowed to provide pornographic movies for residents?" The survey also hinted that the project would result in a fiscal crisis for the region, despite there being no data to support such claims. One question asked, "Do you believe, if the broadband proposal fails, there would not be money to spend on transportation and educational needs?" Don't support municipal broadband, it's akin to taxpayer supported pornography? It will result in an educational fiscal implosion? These weren't serious questions, they were intended to plant seeds of doubt in community residents who hadn't been doing their homework. "We were out-manned, out-resourced, out-spent and out-maneuvered," says Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns. "Our campaign was rooted in truth, our opponents' in anything but." Despite the Tri-Cities Broadband groups attempts to dispel the myths about municipal broadband, the damage had been done. When the project came to a vote, 40% of the community voted against the project. According according to Ed Hodges, leader of the local community group "Fiber for our Future" (see past BBR interview), if that forty percent signed up for service, the project would have been financially successful, all loans repaid by subscriber fees. So what became of this sudden surge of interest by the incumbents in a previously neglected region? According to a recent report in the Kane Country Chronicle, area residents are now being given the very things a municipal operation would have likely prevented: rate hikes and service reductions. According to a memo sent out to the region this month by Comcast, area residents are gaining 12 channels for local cable service, but losing 24 (including common channels like MSNBC and Fox News). The price of expanded basic service increased from $22.15 to $28.20 a month, and the next level up, tagged as "standard", will see rates rise from $37.94 to $43.90. The hikes, as high as 33% for some, have prompted local groups in support of the municipal network to meet next month to consider bringing the issue back to the polls. "If it were to go to a vote right now, I think the vote would go the other way," suggests Hodges.
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woody7
Premium
join:2000-10-13
Torrance, CA | Ignorance is bliss........ When will people learn....... telcos/cable companies are like spammers.........they all lie.................. | |
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ronpin
Imagine Reality
join:2002-12-06
Nirvana
 ·AT&T Southwest
| Re: Ignorance is bliss........ Why turn to government for a solution??? America is custom made-to-order for any enterprising soul to step up to the plate and offer some real competition.
Oh sure, you'll need to do some technology homework and create a believable business plan to get private funding. But then you get to reap the rewards....or maybe just hope that big-brother does it for you??? | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
 ·Comcast
| Re: Ignorance is bliss........ said by ronpin  :
Why turn to government for a solution???
It's pretty sick how over the past 70 years more and more Americans feel perfectly comfortable with the government providing the "solutions" to all their problems, instead of taking it upon themselves to solve the problems on their own.
I've said it before, I'll say it again. Don't like your cable service? Then cancel it. No one ever died without cable TV. Get a bunch of your fellow disgruntled ex-cable-subscribers, pool your cash and get investors and start your own cable company. Or switch to satellite. You a residential subscriber that doesn't like your phone service? Cancel that as well, there are quite a few cellular phone companies who would be more than happy to take your business. Can't get high speed internet access? There's already plenty of people who want that but cannot get it. Why wait for a solution that will never come when you can all band together and start your own ISP?
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The tobacco industry is more respectable than the telemarketing industry. | |
| | | | | | | | | vic102482
Premium
join:2002-04-30
Upper Marlboro, MD
| Re: Ignorance is bliss........ said by JTRockville :
I think of munis as turning to the community, rather than the government.
When it comes to infrastructure, I strongly feel it shouldn't be left to those who can make the most profit.
Why should we be forced to choose between funding 7 digit salaries, or doing without?
Agreed, also why cant internet access be a community service? You have community and private ice rings community and private stores community and private gyms etc.
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I tie a rope around my penis and jump from a tree, don't you wanna grow up to be just like me!!!! | |
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batageek
Slave To The Duopoly
Premium
join:2003-01-25
| Re: Ignorance is bliss........ How about this.....
Municipal broadband is an opportunity to provide another level of service to its citizenry, just as they do with water, sewer, streets, and in some cases, electric, gas & trash collection.
If the entire community benefits, either directly (via services provided) or indirectly (increased economic opportunities for the city to attract businesses or provide advanced emergency services, etc..), how is this a problem?
This is not some government handout, but instead, a local government taking a proactive stance to securing their own destiny. The people I've elected are looking out for my needs (whether or not you think they are essential). They are doing the job I've asked them to do....to represent me.
Go munis!
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»www.tricitybroadband.com | |
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misiek
join:2000-12-25
Round Lake, IL
| Re: Ignorance is bliss........ said by batageek :
How about this.....
Municipal broadband is an opportunity to provide another level of service to its citizenry, just as they do with water, sewer, streets, and in some cases, electric, gas & trash collection.
Exactly. | |
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JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
clubs:
 ·LINGO
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·surpasshosting
 ·Verizon FIOS
| I'm not trying to play word games. I live in a region where a lots of people work for "the government", so perhaps it's easier for me to think of "the government" as being of, by, and for the people.
Many municipal systems have proven very beneficial to the people.
said by Jim Baller, municipal broadband attorney
Broadband Resports: Interview
written by Karl Bode
May 21, 2003:
Let's take a closer look. One of the systems studied was the municipal cable system of Glasgow, KY. The residents of Glasgow love their system because it has given them low-cost, high-quality cable service, and, since the mid-1990s, bargain-basement access to the Internet at 4 Mbps. Yet, according to cable industry, the Glasgow system should be considered a failure because it has never made a profit. It is quite true that Glasgow has never shown a profit, but that is because it sets its rates at the lowest possible level that will enable it to recover its costs. This policy has saved the citizens of Glasgow more than $30 million over the relevant period. For a town of 14,000 in rural Kentucky, that's not a failure -- its a grand success.
Another system included in the Denver study was the municipal communications utility of Cedar Falls, IA. To their credit, the professors acknowledged in their report that the system had not been operating long enough to generate any meaningful data. Since then, the Cedar Falls system has been a rousing success, particularly when compared to its next-door neighbor, Waterloo, IA, which shied away from establishing a communications utility of its own. The two cities are comparable in every way except that Cedar Falls has a municipal communications system and Waterloo does not. The result -- economic development in Cedar Falls has surged since the system was completed, even in the face of the economic downturn, while Waterloo's economy has languished. Hardly the profile of a failed system.
That's what happens when "big-brother does it". To that, I say...
Bring it, bro!!!! | |
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oliphant5
Got Identity?
Premium
join:2003-05-24
Corona, CA
| Re: Ignorance is bliss........ said by JTRockville :
..."the government" as being of, by, and for the people.
LOL! To me the government is just the most corrupt entity out there bar none...but when it comes to getting screwed, I'd rather risk getting screwed by muni broadband than know I'll be screwed by a telco or cable company.
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-- Munis Killed the Telco Star -- Powered by Barry McKockenner Racing in association with Jack Mikkokov Motorsports | |
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zabes63
join:2003-04-05
Batavia, IL
| Ya make allot of good points and suggestions. Most of which I already have implemented on a personal basis.
But for me the push for the Muni project wasn't about fast Kazaa, porno and gaming.
It was about making our area more attractive to high tech businesses than say... India, Mexico, Canada.....
It was about jobs. Something sorely lacking these days.
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A Jobless recovery is not a recovery at all!! | Tri-City Broadband | |
| | | | | BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs:
·Comcast
·Comcast Formerly ..
| Re: Ignorance is bliss........ amen..... in this day and age the companies care about the bottom lines only and are greedy as all hell. This is what the people who voted it down deserve to be a$$ raped by the local telco's and cable co's.... Sweet Redemption ... Welcome to the real world the communities need to band together and get it done or get @$$ raped .... Very simple.
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This package does not contain a winner... | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| Re: Ignorance is bliss........ said by BosstonesOwn :
amen..... in this day and age the companies care about the bottom lines only and are greedy as all hell.
Since when have companies not been focused on the bottom line and/or not been driven by greed?
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The tobacco industry is more respectable than the telemarketing industry. | |
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JTRockville
Data Ho
Premium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
clubs: | Re: Ignorance is bliss........ That's precisely why munis are better for the community - their purpose is to provide a service. As you point out, the purpose of any company, is profit. | |
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join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs: | Re: Ignorance is bliss........ atleast some one seen my point... | |
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oliphant5
Got Identity?
Premium
join:2003-05-24
Corona, CA
| It's not a matter of driven by greed as much as the willingness to violate anti-trust laws or other regulations, but just purchase laws that will permit and unprecedented level of greed and corruption.
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-- Munis Killed the Telco Star -- Powered by Barry McKockenner Racing in association with Jack Mikkokov Motorsports
[text was edited by author 2003-10-31 16:42:06] | |
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rit56
join:2000-12-01
New York, NY | maybe you should consider electing a new President. 2 1/2 million jobs lost and counting during his term of office.
this comment is not an attack on you zabes by the way. just stating a fact, making a point. . | |
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oliphant5
Got Identity?
Premium
join:2003-05-24
Corona, CA | Re: Ignorance is bliss........ What, and reverse the trend of 7+% GDP growth, lower taxes and economic recovery? No thanks. | |
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oliphant5
Got Identity?
Premium
join:2003-05-24
Corona, CA
| said by ronpin :
Why turn to government for a solution???
Because these particular businesses have shown a long history of market manipulation and anti-competitive practices all at the cost of the consumer.
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-- Munis Killed the Telco Star -- Powered by Barry McKockenner Racing in association with Jack Mikkokov Motorsports | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | TACSPEED
Premium
join:2001-04-14
Tacoma, WA
·Advanced Stream
| quote:
America is custom made-to-order for any enterprising soul to step up to the plate and offer some real competition.
This might work for areas were all the stars are aligned and the fruit is hanging low. Although from your postings in the fiber forum, it doesn't appear that you have gotten off the ground yet, and you seem to have some serious concerns.
quote:
The low-end market is kinda scary - an older couple called me to ask about the flyer -- and wound-up telling me they thought their [newer] home was already "wired for fiber". Heh-heh, yeah right. Someone else told me they were positive that Verizon was about to run fiber to them -- heh-heh.
Bottom-line I'm afraid the low-end is too...out-of-touch? (shall we say) to even grasp what 1/1mbs FTTH means or what its really worth (oh, I know slow FTTH is a misnomer -- but the price still beats everything else out there except Juno and the-like).
Anyhow, I think your on the right track. I hope there is opportunity for entrepreneurs like yourself. Whether it's a total private concept such as yours or a partnership with a municipal.
Let my also say there is room for the municipal concept too, such as Grant County, and Chelan County PUDs, since not every area is going to have all the stars aligned in the right position with the fruit hanging low.
Finally, it is becoming painfully obvious that FTTH will not be coming anytime soon from the major cable companies or the baby Bells.
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Fiber Optics is the future of high-speed internet access. Stop by the BBR Fiber Optic Forum.
[text was edited by author 2003-10-31 15:03:24] | |
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53059959
Temp banned from BBR more then anyone
join:2002-10-02
PwnZone
| said by This Article:
Residents of three Illinois cities voted down an attempt to create a municipal cable and broadband system, now they're facing yet another round of rate hikes by their incumbent cable provider.
what a noi noi noi... | |
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Mellow
Premium
join:2001-11-16
Salisbury, MD
·HostGator
·Cavalier Telephone
| morons hahaha.. goes to show this country is a bunch of brainless trend following morons that have no common sense. I would kill to have fiber. Or atleast cheap cable. But these ppl shoot down the same ppl trying to help them. THEY DESERVE HIGHER RATES! | |
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zabes63
join:2003-04-05
Batavia, IL
| Who Didn't See This Coming A Hundred Miles Away? Although if the Muni project had been approved, the general populace being savvy enough to see through the obvious lies, misinformation and hype, it would have been in the later stages of planning at this point and the incumbents would still be free to do whateverthehell they wanted to do.
The only difference would be that the cableco would be insisting on long term contracts from its customers in a feeble attempt to stem the exodus of customers in the Tri-Cities.
Fortunately I have limited my business with the incumbents as much as I can and won't be effected by the rate hike. This time.....
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A Jobless recovery is not a recovery at all!! | Tri-City Broadband
[text was edited by author 2003-10-31 11:49:05] | |
| nasadude
join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD | serves them right hahahahahahaha
morons | |
| | | | BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs: | Re: Karma indeed | |
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hotpepper23
join:2001-10-28
Chicago, IL
clubs:
| No, I want bad and unreliable service Let's see:
1) The local gov wants to increase my service and choice.
2) Make it more reliable.
3) Save me $$$.
Hello!
I wonder if SBC & Comcast funded an IQ based survey
and then chuckled to themselves when they saw the results.
Cha-ching!!!
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When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.
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thongsai
join:2002-07-04
Santa Rosa, CA | shocked im shocked! wait no im not, i mean where else is the money gonna come from to make up for the advertisement campaign against the munis?
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»thongsai-roms.shorturl.com/ | |
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cbrigante2
Cubs 20??
Premium
join:2002-11-22
North Aurora, IL
| Agreed The best part of all this is that the Tri-Cities populace STILL has a choice for all of these products!
Cable TV.............Sat TV
Phone Service........Cell Phone Service
Broadband Internet(cable or DSL)......Wireless Broadband
It doesn't hurt to mention that they have (according to this site) the #1 customer rated wireless broadband provider in the country. Come on Tri-cities...wake up and stick it to them where it hurts! Take the cash cow away from them by choosing the competitive services! | |
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Octopussy2
Premium
join:2003-03-30
Batavia, IL
| Re: Agreed You have to remember....some still don't have cable modems though and I STILL can't get DSL here in Batavia. There is not choice for some in this area of the Tri-Cities. And most, but not all, can have a choice between cable or satellite. Not everyone can get satellite tv. Some are stuck with paying for cable....those in apartments, condos, people who have line-of-site issues (like my neighbors) etc....
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It's muni-licious! »www.tricitybroadband.com | |
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cbrigante2
Cubs 20??
Premium
join:2002-11-22
North Aurora, IL
| Line of sight..yes I agree. Apartment, not sure about the internal politics, but I thought that they couldn't restrict you from choosing satellite by law--I could be wrong on this one.
In North Aurora (just south of the Tri-Cities for those who need to know) STILL has no DSL or Cable broadband options. Cable is soon to roll-out, but as a consumer sick of being held hostage by the big guys to get what they want in legal perks, I have stopped playing the game. Everyone in Batavia has the option of broadband through DLS Internet (minus the apartments?). Also..don't get me wrong, I was all for the municipal broadband project, just a shame I didn't get to vote on it since North Aurora doesn't even get Tri-City support! Some friends of mine live in St. Charles and I complained to them after it failed. They failed to vote for lack of knowledge of the proposal. The mayor was correct in saying he couldn't keep up with the huge pockets of Comcast and SBC. | |
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Dennis
Premium,Mod
join:2001-01-26
Algonquin, IL | Where's SBC I'm not saying they're innocent, but I don't really see much about SBC in this article, but people keep bashing them.
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"When you're right, nobody remembers, and when you're wrong, nobody forgets" | |
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See 8 replies to this post | |
PthirusPubis6
join:2003-05-24
00000
| Rivals Seek Probe of Baby Bells' Meeting As far as price hikes go, we ain't seen nuthin' yet!
"Two dozen telecommunications companies will urge Congress today to determine whether the Baby Bell phone companies violated antitrust laws when they discussed plans to build a war chest of as much as $40 million to lobby for an end to government regulations that restrict their ability to raise prices."
Go here for the rest of the story:
»www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-p···s-manual | |
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viperpa33s
Why Me?
Premium
join:2002-12-20
Bradenton, FL
·Bright House
| at the mercy of a cable company Comcast is like a weasel. Comcast waits till the people voted down the proposal, then Comcast jumps in to raise rates. Comcast knowing full well that it would take at least another 6 months to a year before the proposal would be brought up for a vote again. Once again your at the mercy of the cable company, in a sense a monopoly. | |
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Unit649
I B U, Who U B?
Premium
join:2000-01-22
Stockton, CA
·Comcast
| Re: at the mercy of a cable company Comcast does this every year, its not anything new. I get cards in the mail every week here begging me to subscribe, offering me free months, etc. Anything to get them in the door.
If I ever get TV (I work alot so I have no reason to subscribe to it, I watch maybe 2 hours a week) it will probably be via dish for that very reason. I'm sorry, but even as a primary source of entertainment, $50 a month plus is pushing it. Especially since I'm sitting here with a rent increase of $50 last month-I think I'll pay my rent before cable.
I remember when my parents used to have it and they would push for the premium channels-which are fine, if you like to pay $15 a month to see the same stuff over and over. Now you can see the same stuff over and over across 5 channels. And they increase the fee again for that.
Oh well. When broadcast TV goes away and the 'rabbit ears' on my TV no longer work...I guess I'll be forced to read a book or something, but that will be cheaper than cable. I'm just glad cable doesn't set gas prices or rent rates, or we'd be in the $5 range per gallon now with the inflation rates they claim with every increase 
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U ::::Founder, ForeverChat IRC Network :::: »www.foreverchat.net | |
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Re: Ignorance is bliss........
