AT&T Murders Wisconsin's WiscNet (Updated)

Same crap just happend in NC. And of course in Tenn we get jail time for letting someone use your Netflix password and jailtime for posting pics on the internet that might disturb someone.

TX is probably just as Republican, is not more than WI, and though cities can't do their own muni broadband efforts, AT&T is nowhere as domineering as they are in WI. Then again, that might be because a fair amount of long-haul infrastructure in TX is part of TLSN, a cooperative of telephone co-ops and companies like CenturyLink. AT&T and Verizon are notably absent from the member list for TLSN, which provides dark fiber for various EDU/GOV institutions in the state.

But, again, there is no AT&T in that co-op of co-ops. They're too busy blanketing the state (yes, AT&T has good coverage in TX) with overpriced wireless service and deciding whether to build U-Verse in a given area of San Antonio, Austin, Houston or Fort Worth (and maybe other smaller AT&T cities like Amarillo if they're lucky).

AT&T's strong hold is texas..why u think there head quarters is in Fortworth/Dallas Area, it makes since that they would be the best in service as far as coverage goes, dont get me wrong I hate AT&T but i also got service from them as far as cell phones go, Suddenlink is my cable provider and i live about 1 hour west of Fort Worth

But i dont think AT&T should of had the power to do this to Wisonsin.., and repiblicans dont have nothin to do with this, both can be paid off..both will sign whatever if money is involved..

Democrats are prob worse, than republicans, somthin comes to mind at the moment..what was it call net neutrality??, o ya i forgot alot of democrats dont wanna hear it

I heard that AT&T bought out CellOne in my area because the CEO came out to the Hill Country for leisure trips and his phone would be roaming when he did so.

Or it could be that AT&T wanted to get into the Alaska market...

too bad for you I'm not a democrat either.

Please don't make this a partisan issue. It's not. The Dems have done plenty to sell their souls too.

Who controls both houses in the Wisconsin state legislature? Who controls the governorship? I'm sorry but if you're in charge and you pass laws then you own those laws and the consequences that come with them. It's really that simple.

You're right. This is strictly a GOP issue. I sit corrected

This one situation does not in and of itself mean that partisan politics is black or white. Politicians in general often succumb to corporate and political pressures. There's enough blame to go around without annoying and worthless political banter.

GOP = GROUP OF PRICKS

when will the new civil war start ?

this is bullshit.Wiscnet is important in Industry and education.Republicans are totatally retarded.and this type of behavior is going to bring this country down

Thanks for totally missing the point regarding partisanship.

Same can be said for a large number of the commenters on this site

Yes, both political parties are full of bought and paid for, corrupt crooks. This just happens to be a clear cut example of Republican corruption. Wait a day, you'll see something similar from a Democrat controlled state. (there is still one left right?)

You ever hear of Maryland?

The state motto is

'If you can dream it, we can tax it.'

While not always strictly a Republican issue, in this case, it absolutely is.

Wasn't ATT the subject and then went with down with Wisconsin.
Not even sure if my avatar says Tomahawk Wi.
Oh please why do union members make more than non union ?
The quiet wonders why.

The Demo still continues to NOT understand credit cards ?
You can't continue to spend more than you take in, isn't that the real world ?

The Demo protesters with property damage, interruption of sessions, then the Zombie deal with the Special Olympic kids to interrupt a congrats by the Gov.

We the people have voted and will continue to take out the final trash in 2012.

Marsh

big corp company running the usa. thank you corrupt politicians

US taxpayers will welcome the $37 million in returned stimulus funds. I doubt, however, that Wisconsin taxpayers will be quite so happy.

I am not thrilled about how stimulus funds were allocated, or even if they were a good idea at all, but duplicating an existing system(Badgernet) was probably not the best use of those funds. Fixing dams, bridges, roads, water systems would seem to be a better target for those funds.

Uh no did you read the article you linked to? This would save them 6mm a year and have higher capacity as well as subsidized connectivity for many of the schools and uni's connected to it. It not only makes good business sense but long term capacity and infrastructure sense.

ATT and other would rather see you the tax payer pay more for less by using them rather than cheaper better tax payer owned infrastructure managed by the university.

I'm all for bridges and road and other updates but this one makes sense for all Wisconsin taxpayers and doesn't duplicate anything it updates everything.

No reading needed, anything that competes with a perpetual flow of monthly payments is bad.k. You see most roads and bridges are free to use and takes a big sweet juicy private contract to construct (then fix later because it was done poorly) so those things are "good for business". . .

Sad.

On a serious note. Anything. That's ANYTHING that competes with the forever subscription model off all monopolistic like businesses is said to be bad for the consumer by those who benefit from or just kiss up to these businesses. Ownership is power on any level and those who don't own never have that power. When a municipality or government runs something then the good old "we the people" get to own something.

Ecomcon, get your facts straight.
There is no duplication of efforts. The infrastructure is being build because AT&T an others can't/won't offer the services in an affordable matter.

And what happens when it's destroyed and then we all pick up the tab from the fees AT&T will rape for for providing the exact same service (except way slower) via USF and other fees?

Ok so maybe it will be less from Government and instead from a Government mandated fund on your phone bills. You still pay--- a lot MORE. That make you feel better?

This is a classic example of the worst of Government and Private partnerships. A license to screw, backed up by Government law.

WiscNet does not duplicate the BadgerNet consolidated network. In fact, they are one organization that makes use of (and pays for) BCN services.

I can honestly say I there is no danger of me moving there. Even North Carolina seems to be going down hill pretty fast. Granted New York is already rates last of the fifty states in terms of economic and personal freedom but it appears there are many other states trying to get down here to the bottom with us.

Glad I dont live in Wisconsin!

same here lol. In fact all that will do to Wisconsin is hurt the economy for there area like no other, you think companys are gonna go for AT&T's over priced slow internet??, NOPE, where are all the companys goin?? China, what is china gettin....fiber...., in the long run i see even worse recesion if the internet here in the usa aint better, and the caps arnt gonna help anythin prob make matters worse.

But anyways when presidential race comes around maybe people will rethink electing obama for president

idc if its a democrat, repulican, or whatever this guy gotta get out, companys are worried and thus u see AT&T tryin to own and run anything they can just to ensure that they have income coming in.

As someone who's previously lived in WI, it's a nice state. Taxpayer funded connections to the Internet aren't everything

As someone who's lived in DC (and PG county), I can tell you that a good educational system is everything.

A good education system is very important, and was a strong factor in determining my place of residence when I moved to the NOVA area.

Are you attempting to tie a good/bad education to lack of state-funded and/or university funded access to the Internet?

Yes, I'm saying that increasing the cost of internet access for educational institutions, and putting it under the control of AT&T, will lower the quality of education for the schools affected.

The bill that this was appended to is cutting a lot of money from public education, this provision would have been a small hurt compared to the primary cuts. Wisconsin did need to balance their budget, but this provision wouldn't help balance their budget at all.

Hmm interesting thread and have no clue why ?
As a kid 55 years ago have lived and enjoyed every moment here.
You would find us much like CT in real life.
Only the Demo has such a loud voice.

My experience with ATT in the Milwaukee VA with their broadband G3 for internet netbook that is only available in Madison and Milwaukee.
Rest of the state is dial up speed if you can stay stationary ?
4th floor Rhinelander room the nurse helped with the cell phone and couldn't get a signal.

Your mileage may vary...

Marsh

I've lived in WI for 25 years. Politically, the state is more highly polarized now than it has been. Since taking office in January, Gov Walker has been very divisive. Few have mized feelings about him or in the direction he wants to to take the state. The fact that Walker is being targeted for recall (after he's been in office for a year) is significant. However, the state's public education system has been in politician's crosshairs since the early 90s, when Tommy Thompson limited the ability of local school boards to raise revenue without going to referendum and orchestrated a "Qualified Economic Offer" (QEO) law limiting the total increase in compensation of public school employees to a fixed percentage. Walker's apparently successful attempt to curtail collective bargaining is merely a continuation of policies that started nearly 20 years ago.

Few states had their political landscapes in the fall 2010 elections altered more than Wisconsin's. A Republicans tsunami overtook Madison; Russ Feingold's loss to Ron Johnson (aka Senator Sunspot) was perhaps the biggest shock.

The more WI residents learn about the WiscNet/AT&T issue, the better. The attempt to defund WiscNet was a late change and was as much under the radar as it could have been. Once the word got around, many WI residents contacted their legislators, urging them to maintain funding for WiscNet. It appears that the response was enough to have them remove the WiscNet defunding portion from the budget. Hallelujah!
»bit.ly/lTzNvt

.

And motorcycles, college sports teams, Super Bowl champs, fine kitchen and bath products, etc. WI is actually a nice place to live.

When all of these companies use lawmakers to write protectionist garbage just for them, how is that a free market?

Every politician who cloaks themselves in that doesn't believe in competition, doesn't believe in start-up companies entering the market, they believe in using government to subsidize corporate profits. What they believe in is what their corporate friends tell them to believe in.

Yes, this is what you get for electing Republicans. But it is also what you get for electing Democrats too. The only way you'll stop this madness is to stop electing the beholden politicians, and that means throwing out anyone with a D or an R beside their name.

AT&T would be ecstatic to turn this country into the third world so long as they were allowed to exponentially profit with the help of government.

Did nobody make a fuss or raise issues in the local media to fight this?
What was the stance of the Govenor?

You mean Walker? What was his stance. Gosh... I don't know... where would Scott Walker come down on writing laws that benefited a private corporation over the people? Hmm... if it was a choice between a more expensive private choice and sucking tax money off of the citizens of Wisconsin to funnel to a big company like AT&T... Hmmm... that's tough.

Home of the finest politicians money can buy!

Here's the link:

»host.madison.com/wsj/new ··· 286.html

For those to lazy to go to the link:

A controversial plan to cut $37 million in federal grant money from the University of Wisconsin System, as well as to end federal support for a statewide Internet provider, has been axed from the 2011-13 budget, according to a legislator involved with the process.

In a letter to a constituent, released to the State Journal Tuesday, state Rep. Erik Severson, R-Star Prairie, said the program known as WiscNet will continue unaltered for the next two years while a study is conducted to evaluate the program.

“Through much discussion with my colleagues, and after hearing from you and other members of the community on this complex subject, I am pleased to announce that WiscNet will not be changed by the budget bill,” Severson wrote.

The decision should come as good news to the UW Board of Regents, which vowed last week to fight the legislation. The proposal would have forced the system to return millions in grants intended to extend broadband to rural and under-served areas. The system also would have been forbidden from participating in a statewide cooperative that brings high-speed Internet to most schools and libraries across the state. The change to the budget was just the latest tweak to the $28 billion two-year spending plan, which is expected to reach the Assembly floor Tuesday afternoon.

The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee spent months working on the plan, emerging earlier this month with a document that differed little from the blueprint introduced by Gov. Scott Walker in March.

The proposal cuts spending on public schools by about $800 million, limits their ability to raise property taxes to make up the difference, slashes funding for the University of Wisconsin System by $250 million, takes some $500 million from Medicaid programs and places an enrollment cap on Family Care, a program aimed at keeping poor elderly people out of nursing homes.

It also slashes the perennial imbalance between revenue and spending — known as the structural deficit — some 90 percent by 2013, from $2.5 billion to $250 million. There are no overall sales or income tax increases, and property taxes are held nearly flat.

Republican leadership did break with Walker over changing the popular SeniorCare prescription drug program, some recycling proposals and the governor’s bid to drastically revamp UW-Madison.

The UW System faces a $250 million cut in state aid over the next two years. Under Walker’s original plan, UW-Madison would have received half of those cuts, with the rest spread out among the other universities in the system. The system still faces $250 million in cuts, but now UW-Madison will shoulder only about $94 million over the two-year period.

Guess the threat of recall is getting some people nervous! ;D

Republicans will bring this country doom.
and a lot of stupid uneducated people

You can pay uneducated people less but it costs you more over time. I have seen it in too many textile mill towns in the South. When the mills shut down the population could not change gears to new industries and the towns are dying.

I'd like to read it for myself. Out of all the links in this story why not one to the actual subject being discussed? I couldn't even find one in any of the linked articles from this story.

You could have linked from this phrase:

quote:

---

The move was accomplished via an eleventh hour provision AT&T managed to get inserted into the budget,

---

All thanks to gov scott walker, bought and paid for by corporations. He will hopefully get the boot after his first term. He is doing some big time damage to the state of wisconsin.

It is not really any surprise to me ATT is pretty much the most horrible a company can be when ever presented with the opportunity.

To bad their is not laws and regulations put in place to stop such anti competitive practices....

I think such laws once existed. and then Corporations found out they could bypass said laws via buying the government and then getting rid of the laws.

Screwing the customer has and always will be the way of the US Telecom business.

WiscNet is a joke. They buy t1 or ds3 lines from the local incumbent telephone company; mark up the price usually by 50% add bandwidth and system maintenance fees then use taxpayer dollars and subsidize the price and undercut local ISP's by 5 % and the schools and libraries think they are getting a deal. As everyone knows the subsidy is free it's just magic! That is how UW is able to charge a $1000.00 for a t1 to a remote library but the library only pays $500.00 and taxpayers pick up the difference from the endless cookie jar. LOL Ha!

one day customers will get pissed off enough to actually do something about how AT&T and Comcast take you for granted and are greedy for more and more revenue with the least amount of invesment in infrastructure. most notable, look at at&t's press releases and corporate behavior 2005 - 2011

implementation of cablemodem and dsl networks have been done on the extreme cheap, especially where you have AT&T and Comcasts footprint. without another carrier deploying their own networks these two companies will continue their self interest behavior at the expense of customers.

how many YEARS will go by before something changes?
have a look at your duopoly, see if you like it..

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast

Jeff Plale, AT&T's best friend in the WI legislature, took a position with Walker's administration heading the Division of State Facilities. Plale was about as much of a democrat as Sheriff David Clarke; what republican in his right mind is going to hire a democrat for a political position?

Is anyone even bothering to claim that this legislation is in the public interest? Probably not, because that's not really necessary around here these days.

What's next? Pulling out the fiber to use the ducts as pneumatic tubes?

S.P.R.R. had the same power in the State of California 100 years ago; and that power ultimately led to California's initiative process. The voters basically seized legislative power from the legislature (but, after a century of experience, corporations learned how to "AstroTurf" the process in this state).

Things like this are why we need another major political party, one that ACTUALLY doesn't let themselves be bought like slaves.

The [Joint Finance] committee added a provision that would have rejected almost $40 million in federal broadband money and prevented it from being used for the University of Wisconsin System and its WiscNet broadband system, raising concerns among school districts and public libraries that rely on that network.

Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), co-chairman of the committee, said Tuesday the Assembly would adopt an amendment to the budget to reverse some of the committee action. That would allow the federal money to be used over the next two years and also hold off on implementing the restrictions on WiscNet until July 1, 2013.

Between now and then, an audit would be conducted to determine how WiscNet is used, Vos said. The broadband industry has complained WiscNet unfairly competes with their networks.

»bit.ly/iCocL2

Can't say I am familiar with the ins and outs of wiscnet....however...I can say that I have a relative (read as parent) who was instrumental in expanding wiscnet and connecting the universities in the northern states.

1st- Yes the current Gov is a Repub... keep in mind the Dem Governor at the time of developing and expanding wisc net was just as big a pain in the ass.

2nd- the loss of wiscnet and the connections it allows will DESTROY the research capabilities and academic advances, not just in the UW system, but in university systems country wide.

Some may say so what, but these are the same systems that are making medical, energy, agricultural, et al. break throughs. Watch and see how far research is set back if wiscnet is disbanded in 2013.

Hmm, at&t makes money, and provides a service that people want and think is worth paying for.

The schools and universities use money, and provide what?

A library nobody uses anymore? A university network that gets saturated by kids downloading illegal movies, music, and programs?

Yeah. That's what I want. An almost unlimited bucket of money provided by the people of Wisconsin to pay for kid's learning to steal stuff.

Seriously, make people pay for what they use and they won't abuse it. And you won't build a pie in the sky liberal black hole network to throw money down year after year.

Att provides a service that the universities, libraries, etc MUST use. If they had a choice, they would most likely choose something else. universities provide education, important to improving society. While the benefits may not be tangible to you, with your limited understanding, there is plenty of research to back up the fact that decreases in education are in fact bad for society as a whole. Not that you care...

Wisconsin is not the only state where the the Telco syndicate has its tentacles deeply embedded in the pockets of the blind legislators who court the cash cow and have no initiative to stop it. They simply do not care about the people they falsely represent. Kiss the baby, wave the flag and get re-elected. It works every time until people wake up. The residents of Wisconsin slept while Rome burned and now they can reap the reward of a Governor and a State Legislature that really doesn't give a damn.

I've watched this for over 50-years. NONE of this, not one Telco or cable or media Action has anything to do with serving the public. But, it has much to do with corporate greed at the expense of the public. And it has much to do with control of the American dollar.

Cities that roll out and control their own FIOS and FTTH think about residents. They give residents free 50/50 at home while telco doles out 2/256 in rural America and charges $100 per month while telling our Congress big whoppers about their progress. Fat LIE. There is no progress when a tiny town 10 miles away is limited to dialup or satellite.

It will continue until someone with a pair remembers the Sherman Act and initiates a class action suit to stop it. Again. Only this time it will not be against just one telco or just one cable company. When it happens it will be a major take down of grand proportion and fun to watch. Telcogate on Wall Street. .

It may come down to a government heavily regulated telco and more competition to cable in all rural areas. It will happen quicker when Congress fires the popinjays at FCC and disbands it in favor of a system that works for all. .