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North Carolina's Fibrant Plans 200 Mbps
Time Warner Cable fails to keep pace with upgrades

Despite several failed attempts by Time Warner Cable and AT&T to get laws passed that would have blocked the several North Carolina towns from deploying their own fiber networks, North Carolina is now the newest hotbead for community fiber deployments. At the forefront of this charge is Wilson, North Carolina -- where locals now see symmetrical speeds up to 100 Mbps courtesy of the local city-run operation named Greenlight.

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The town of Salisbury, North Carolina followed in Wilson's footsteps and began providing residential fiber on November 1. Their initial pricing list (pdf) noted their standard service is a symmetrical 15 Mbps tier for $45 a month, and a symmetrical 25 Mbps tier for $65 a month. According to local news outlets, the company plans to offer 100 and 200 Mbps symmetrical tiers, and their entry has already forced a response by Time Warner Cable:
quote:
Fibrant has the capacity to go up to 1 gigabit per second upload and download, Assistant City Manager Doug Paris said. The utility plans to offer 100x100 Mbps and 200x200 Mbps but has not set prices, he said. Fibrant customers can request the 50x50 Mbps option, Paris said. The city has yet to determine when that option will appear on the advertised rate schedule, he said.

Time Warner Cable boosted Internet speed overnight this week for all Turbo and Standard Internet service customers, said Mike Smith, area vice president for Time Warner Cable’s Charlotte operation. Turbo download speed went from 10 Mbps to 15 Mbps, matching Fibrant’s basic Internet speed. Turbo upload speed went from .5 Mbps to 1 Mbps. "We don’t feel that’s much to brag about," Paris said.
As with the other major muni-fiber build in Wilson, North Carolina, the upstream speeds here are particularly more than either Time Warner Cable or AT&T are willing to offer. Despite being the second largest U.S. cable company, Time Warner Cable has lagged on next-generation DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades, thanks largely to the fact that limited competition in many of their markets allows them to. The company did however have plenty of money to spend on campaign contributions and constant lawsuits aimed at preventing North Carolina communities from upgrading themselves -- when Time Warner Cable wouldn't.
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battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

1 recommendation

battleop

Member

Where is the savings?

All of these muni projects blab about how much money they are going to save the consumer. I've yet to see any thing that resembles better pricing from EPB in Chattanooga. They are as expensive as Comcast.

None of these muni projects have tiers that can compete with the price of DSL. If they are really that concerned with the public why are they not offering a $15-20 package that's in the 5 to 10mbps range?

morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000

morbo

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

Did you miss this line:

"symmetrical 15 Mbps tier for $45 a month, and a symmetrical 25 Mbps tier for $65 a month"

I pay 39.99 now for 10/1 connection. Symmetrical speeds are great, and this offering is outstanding.

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

battleop

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

Did you bother to read the words that are below "Where is the savings?"

morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000

morbo

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

The pricing is $5 less per month for a tier that is 50% better download and 15x better upload. So $60 savings per year and a much, much better product. What are you whining about?

dfrfduu64r
@thvilledigital.net

dfrfduu64r to battleop

Anon

to battleop
There is huge cost savings, but because they are not competing on the low end service doesn't mean they are not saving people a ton of money and giving them much need options...
Comcast and the Other Cable providers and compete and neither can ATT Uvers

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to morbo

Premium Member

to morbo
said by morbo:

Did you miss this line:

"symmetrical 15 Mbps tier for $45 a month, and a symmetrical 25 Mbps tier for $65 a month"

Did you miss his asking about a $15/20 tier?
LostInWoods
join:2004-04-14

LostInWoods

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

$15 to 20 is probably a bit optimistic, particularly when the systems are still being built out. Where I live (rural NE GA), the only thing that cheap stand-alone is dial-up. I've seen some cheaper (~$25) cable deals for lower speeds (1.5 Mbps) - but only if you subscribe to TV.
33358088 (banned)
join:2008-09-23

33358088 (banned) to morbo

Member

to morbo
to be clear thats 15megabit up and 15 megabit down

25 megabit down and up

i pay 60$ CAD same now as USD btw for 4 megabit down and 640 kilobit up and its last of the unlimited

Duramax08
To The Moon
Premium Member
join:2008-08-03
San Antonio, TX

Duramax08 to battleop

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to battleop
Id rather help the community then some corporate pig.
flbas1
join:2010-02-03
Fort Lauderdale, FL

flbas1

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

I almost want to subscribe just to help their community (and hope it goes viral!). I would love to see that in my area.

Robert
Premium Member
join:2001-08-25
Miami, FL

Robert to battleop

Premium Member

to battleop
It looks like they offer a 10/10 tier for $34.95/mo.

Yea, not $15-$20, but still better than $50/mo.
LostInWoods
join:2004-04-14

LostInWoods

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

Yeah, that's the Wilson Greenlight package. Considering that my 3000/678 DSL from Windstream (the only high-speed internet available for me) cost $39.99/mo, I'd say that's a decent value. Maybe not Hong Kong cheap, but pretty decent.
AndyDufresne
Premium Member
join:2010-10-30
Chanhassen, MN
Ubiquiti EdgeRouter ERPro8
Netgear R7000

AndyDufresne to Robert

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to Robert
You all bring up a good point. The muni is offering a better value for the buck which is great but you are still leaving a good portion of population behind that can't afford the entry level for BB be at 30$ +. You still have the problem of the have and the have nots and eventually you might have some folks demand muni offer discounted services to the less fortunate.
whiteyonenh
join:2004-08-09
Keene, NH

1 recommendation

whiteyonenh

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

said by AndyDufresne:

You all bring up a good point. The muni is offering a better value for the buck which is great but you are still leaving a good portion of population behind that can't afford the entry level for BB be at 30$ +. You still have the problem of the have and the have nots and eventually you might have some folks demand muni offer discounted services to the less fortunate.
$10/wk is unattainable? I save that by not buying Coke/Pepsi or eating out less. Is it that hard to put $10/wk away? All this broadband haves/have nots is bogus. Cut down and/or do away with the large cable packages, there's $40-60/mo right there. Need I go on to what else is unnecessary bs? The internet is way more helpful than your Jerry Springer and Court TV.

-EDIT- Point being: Affordability of most services are not unattainable, it's just what you CHOOSE to spend your limited amount of cash on.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx to Robert

Member

to Robert
Where did you hear that? Just curious *shrugs*

Robert
Premium Member
join:2001-08-25
Miami, FL

Robert

Premium Member

Re: Where is the savings?

said by iansltx:

Where did you hear that? Just curious *shrugs*
Their website...
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

K, didn't see it on there. Guess I need to look more closely.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList to Robert

Premium Member

to Robert
thats cheaper than my garbage bill
bngdup
join:2007-02-20
Old Bridge, NJ

1 recommendation

bngdup to battleop

Member

to battleop
I would assume that with Fiber your average consumer is getting more for the same money. In an area dominated by a cable monopoly I think its safe to assume most people are not getting the full 10/1 or whatever Time Warner is offering.

The lines most likely get congested and slow dramatically during peak hours. This is the real free market. Consumers were sick of being force fed poor service by Time Warner so they "did something about it" and started their own company to suit their needs.

Cry socialism all you want. The people banded together to fix their own problem. This country could learn a lot from towns like this.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

1 recommendation

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

you can have the system issue with not getting your full speeds on any system. DSL has the issue, Cable has the issue and any FTTH system could have the problem. Nobody will say. Hell you're lucky if some companies will tell you how many people are a given NOD/DSLAM or even the fiber splice. They'll give you a percentage of it being used but that's it.

As far as people banning together to fix their own problems; NOT everyone banned together for this. You still have the people that didn't want it but yet if this system fails will more than likely end up paying for it later. Taxes. That's the onyl thing that keeps these going. the cities have unlimited supply of money as long as they have people paying their taxes. Next thing we'll see are counties wanting to increase sales taxes to build out a fiber system. Why should the 80year old couple next door have to pay for something they'll never use? let alone maybe never see even fully built.

And if we're being socialism; then these FTTH towns need to start offering the same $10 packages T offers their customers for DSL. After all the Gov't required that to be offered; and they can require it to be offered. The only good thing about this is these cities aren't allowed any RUS money.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

Uh, no. The cities are trying to use subscriber dollars for their networks. So $10 packages would be a bad idea, because the city would be losing money on those customers.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

fair is fair. they want their network they follow the same conditions as others.

But we'll see soon what happens when these cities think they can run a network when Comcast finishes their merger with NBC and Fox gets ahold of these cities for more $$$$. I'd like to see them pay the fees that CV claims Fox demanded.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

TV vs. internet. Couldn't care less about TV personally.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

and how do you factor in the rest? that is you and a good share of BBR. A good share of those residents still pay for cable. As we've talked about before. Cord cutters are a slow trend and more people are likely to keep it than kill it.

And as far as the price of Internet. You don't have to raise just cable to offset the price of the content- you can do the TWC way- raise Internet AND TV. you'll get more $$$ that way.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

At which point cable and everyone else raise their rates in unison...unless of course there's collusion to knock the muni offline.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

the new Repb. Congress will do just that. ATT, VZ, and TWC along with Comcast will go and pay to get the law they want. And the Munis will be done. What they have built they'll have and they won't be able to expand. It's that easy. If the state's what do it; then the Feds will. And the ones with the most $$$$ will be the winners.

vzw emp
@144.191.148.x

vzw emp to hottboiinnc4

Anon

to hottboiinnc4
said by hottboiinnc4:

fair is fair. they want their network they follow the same conditions as others.
And NC Senate bill S1209 is fair? Tell me, how does it apply to anyone except muni-fiber projects? How are any of the 2 previous attempts (in 2007 and 2009) fair, considering that they also would not have applied to the incumbent ISPs? How you think anything is fair when dealing with TWC (or AT&T or any other ISP) is beyond comprehension. TWC has used every trick in the book to stop Greenlight (except, of course, improving their crappy service offerings) and continues to harass their efforts to grow. This marks their third attempt to protect their monopoly position through legisation and the third time they've failed.

Bottom line: the people of Wilson voted to approve this project and they are the ones who will pay if it ultimately fails. That's about as democratic as you get.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

It is fair. TWC and T were there providing a service. It is not their fault the people wanted those services free. They were offered they have no business to get into the business to turn a profit; let alone break even. Non-profits are not in business to compete. IF they want to be in business; then they need to take what they are charged and divide that among those in the city that wishes to have the new services.

And as far as Greenlight- they're not playing fair either. They are double dipping from TWC; not only by getting taxes from them; but also getting more cash for the rental of the poles and the ROW that the city doesn't have to charge their customers. That is not fair.

And as far as TWC blocking; they have the right to; their protecting their business which they have the right to. Who ever gave these cities the idea they can compete with a private business was messed up in the head because the city is there to protect and serve. NOT compete with private business.

NOT everyone in the city voted; meaning it is not what they wanted. You still have grandma next door that will end up paying for this service if it flops.. Someone will always come along and have to clean up the mess.

Texannproud
@tmodns.net

Texannproud

Anon

Re: Where is the savings?

Seriously?

Protect and serve is the realm of the police department specifically. Muni's have a right to deploy any services that the residents of that muni want or need: electricity, water, wastewater, garbage, recycling...these are just some of the most basic of services that most municipalities already run. How are communications services any different than electricity or water? They are all a commodity that proves useful to us in our daily lives and are all delivered in a very similar manner...as a utility service.

Oh, and you should look closer at the differences between a non-profit, a not-for-profit, and a for-profit corporation...in a legal sense. If you do, I think you'll find your argument a tad bit silly.
bngdup
join:2007-02-20
Old Bridge, NJ

bngdup to hottboiinnc4

Member

to hottboiinnc4
So the 80yr old couple should be forced to use Time Warner regardless of their quality of service?

And why do they have to pay even though they may not receive the full benefit?

Why do I have to pay Social Security when I'll probably never see it?
Why do I have to pay extra for uncensored Radio/TV?
Why am I affected by archaic Blue Laws in my state?
Why will all my taxes go towards paying off Wars fought before I could vote?

Because this is a democracy. That means you have to put up with my crap if I have to put up with yours.
WhatNow
Premium Member
join:2009-05-06
Charlotte, NC

WhatNow

Premium Member

Re: Where is the savings?

There is a difference between a private company borrowing money and a city backed by taxes. How do you tax a city department. If the local telco and TWC quits providing service how do you replace those taxes.
The Town of Wilson also provides power to the town and their rates are some of the highest in the state. What will happen when all other competition leaves and they are now a monopoly. You hope they upgrade but they could become just like TWC. Only time will tell.
If the muni fiber does not want to expand past the city limits the only way you can get it is to be annexed and your taxes go up. The competitors outside the town will not have the money to expand in the county areas and any areas they do cover may shut down.
dfxmatt
join:2007-08-21
Crystal Lake, IL

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Member

to battleop
said by battleop:

All of these muni projects blab about how much money they are going to save the consumer. I've yet to see any thing that resembles better pricing from EPB in Chattanooga. They are as expensive as Comcast.

None of these muni projects have tiers that can compete with the price of DSL. If they are really that concerned with the public why are they not offering a $15-20 package that's in the 5 to 10mbps range?
well that' s a really selective view. They are the same price as comcast but with 5x the upload speed. (Comcast is 50mb/10mb - this is 50/50 symmetrical).

so yeah, you're getting more for your money. It's not about pusing price down.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

Correction: the 50M tier is $70 per month, $50 less than Comcast.
iansltx

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Member

to battleop
Because they have to recoup the cost of building the fiber out. If someone wants to pay $15-$20, the DSL company, who has paid for their telephone lines many times over, can have 'em.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

the thing is though. by IRS code they're NOT allowed to turn a profit. They're a city- which means they're NOT For Profit. Meaning they can never turn that profit to fully pay for it and they are lucky if they're allowed to break even at any time. Any money that they profit on will be a red flag for the IRS at the end of the year unless that city cooks their books like every other ones that thing they run the show.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

For tax purposes, infrastructure is amortized over X years. That amortization goes onto the tax books. Guessing the fiber assets are amortized according to a 15-year schedule. Interest on debt is deducted an expense as well.

Also, with all that money the city is supposed to be not making as a profit, they can invest in infrastructure. Or they can pay their workers a decent wage, giving back to the economy. Or they can donate to charity, or whatever. Lots of ways to spend profits and pay back infrastructure without being in the hole or cooking the books.

alchav
join:2002-05-17
Saint George, UT

1 recommendation

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to battleop
said by battleop:

All of these muni projects blab about how much money they are going to save the consumer.

None of these muni projects have tiers that can compete with the price of DSL. If they are really that concerned with the public why are they not offering a $15-20 package that's in the 5 to 10mbps range?
It's sad, but the Average Person feels like Battleop, they don't know or don't care how much a Fiber Network cost. All they want is a cheap Internet connection. That's why Verizon FiOS is not meeting expectations, their upper tier Products are not selling. People want a big fat Fiber Pipe, but only want to pay a couple of bucks!

••••••

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

1 recommendation

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to battleop
Uhmmmm wheres comcasts package that offers 15mbps UPLOAD? oh wait! they don't offer one AT ANY PRICE!
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Where is the savings?

In some areas they do. 100/15 for $380 or so.

MonkeyLick78
join:2002-01-27
Hixson, TN

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to battleop
EPB is paying off the project as fast as possible to be able to cut prices and compete in the future. It's better to pay a little more now to insure we actually have a network in the future.
lamapper
join:2010-07-21
Los Angeles, CA

lamapper to battleop

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to battleop
They are as expensive as Comcast.
All of them, except EPB, have plans with sub $50 per month prices, so your argument does NOT hold up. In reality with decent upstream bandwidth its the existing ISP offerings that are expensive and do not add up. Its obvious to all who want to see the truth.

FTTH symmetrical Fiber Google Map: »sn.im/1axal4

Greenlight, Wilson NC: $34.95 10Mb/10Mb
EPB: Chattanooga, TN: $57.99 30Mb/30Mb
LUS: Layfayette, LA: $28.95 10Mb/10Mb
Fibrant: Salisbury, NC: $45.00 15Mb/15Mb

And do not forget Utopia in Utah, serving over 20 communities today. When Google adds there 5 cities (1Gb/1Gb), Americans will have 30 locations to move to, purchase homes, in order to get out from under the Telco/Cable Co/Wireline/Wireless Customer No Service monopoly, duopoly forever.

Most of us are promised 16Mb/2MB and throttled back to less than 100Kbps/30Kbps. Should the service be allowed to be called "Broadband" if it is throttled below the FCC definition (768Kb)? I think not and I am not alone in this thinking.

More important than finally getting decent service and honest small businesses creating jobs is the following: Why on earth would you go back to providers that have been offering customer no service for over 30 years...this after receiving over $200 Billion since 1990 to provide Americans Fiber. Thanks to their lobbyists, they have been able to take our tax dollars and provide nothing in return.

Only improving their service after a muni and/or User Owned Fiber has started to do business....

A friend of mine put together that map of FTTH fiber offerings and to get on it you must offer symmetrical service...go upstream bandwidth!

A few of us are planning to move as soon as Google announces their Go Big With a Gig 5 cities. Google's Test location is on the map....here is the full URL to the map, share it with your friends so we all know where to move to:

Full URL:
»maps.google.com/maps/ms? ··· &t=h&z=5
Kommie2 (banned)
join:2003-05-13
united state

Kommie2 (banned)

Member

Wow Socialism Works.

Imagine that a Socialist City Owned Company beating a Private Capitalist Behemoth.

•••••••••••••••••

buzz_4_20
join:2003-09-20
Dover, NH

buzz_4_20

Member

OMG they have upload

Without more upload "THE CLOUD" is never gonna take off

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

Re: OMG they have upload

said by buzz_4_20:

Without more upload "THE CLOUD" is never gonna take off
one plus of companies being cheap with the upload!

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT
·StarLink

1 recommendation

SimbaSeven

Member

Proves that they have bandwidth to spare..

quote:
Time Warner Cable boosted Internet speed overnight this week for all Turbo and Standard Internet service customers, said Mike Smith, area vice president for Time Warner Cable’s Charlotte operation. Turbo download speed went from 10 Mbps to 15 Mbps, matching Fibrant’s basic Internet speed. Turbo upload speed went from .5 Mbps to 1 Mbps. "We don’t feel that’s much to brag about," Paris said.
So, if they were able to do this overnight, why didn't they do it earlier? Don't tell me that the infrastructure wasn't there until that night when it "magically" appeared.

••••

goforit
@insightbb.com

goforit

Anon

Better, Faster, Cheaper

Hats off to these towns offering their citizens another option for high speed internet, versus the poorly regulated monopoly choices.

As far as the lower priced options, my guess is that a certain revenue per customer is needed for payback over the investment horizon. This could be offset, I suppose, if the customer paid some initial cost to get the line to his or her home and then qualified for lower monthly rates.

High speed internet is a UTILITY in the modern world. It should be regulated like a utility.

Many city owned power companies provide electricity at a much lower price/kWh than shareholder owned utilities. Such city power companies don't waste money on things like dividends, high CEO salaries and benefits, and overpaid/under worked board members. What they do provide is a reliable product at a low unit rate and with transparency to the customer. They also have access to capital markets through municipal bonds backed by rates.

In other words, they do it better, faster, and cheaper than corporate American can!

•••••••••

holt
@unc.edu

holt

Anon

Local Franchising

It's not like other cable companies can compete in this same market. TWC is franchised by the city. They choose to compete with TWC instead of kicking them out and choosing a different cable company. Either way it's the local government that deciding how internet is distributed unless some true 3rd party private company decides to compete. We don't even have that here in Durham with the commerce and universities.

MichaelBlack

Anon

Time Warner Speeds

I question why Time Warner waits until there is a threat from another Company before they increase their speeds. Here in the Raleigh NC area the speeds really suck, especially at prime time.

Here in Apex,NC we are waiting for AT&T U-Verse to get up and running which I spoke to a technician yesterday and he said it would be up by the end of the year.

At that time TWC will lose hundreds if not thousands of Road Runner customers... I will be the 1st and will be going door to door in my subdivision to inform all my neighbors of the better service that is available.\I already know of 12 households that will be leaving including cable TV customers as well.

I hope TWC dies a painful death
jkeelsnc
join:2008-08-22
Greensboro, NC

1 recommendation

jkeelsnc

Member

Business aspect

Now I am going to play the devil's advocate for a moment. I think that part of what TWC and AT&T are concerned about is being able to cover their costs. Now, by far I am not expert for either the telecomm or the cable business. However, AT&T likely has much of their older equipment costs amortized over 20-30 years. I wouldn't be surprised if the cable companies do something similar for their plant and equipment which is quite expensive. Furthermore, they have corporate income taxes (state and federal and they are NOT CHEAP) and then add on top of paying for backbone capacity, power, employee salaries, transportation, benefits (insurance, retirement, pension, 401K, etc) and of course also the cost of trucks and vans to carry technicians to the sites where they work and for the tools they use. You can easily see where all this adds up into a monster mountain of expense in a time of economic thin for a lot of people who are also reducing the services they are willing to pay for (cancelling voice phone service and TV cable service). You can see that might head them in the direction down the road where they can see that (maybe not right right away) down the road they will have trouble making a profit. Then you have to answer to the shareholders, the board of directors, executives, and the CEO. No one wants that (not even me). So you see it does get quite complicated. If a local government that doesn't have the same expenses offers the same or better service at lower cost the private competitors would eventually lose money on service (partly due to spreading costs ahead over many years. a big investment for a private company). The private companies would have continued taxes and expenses that the local government does not. The privates would not be able to compete with that, then they lose business and then they wind up losing money, laying off people, contributing to unemployment, etc. I actually think that all of these things are true. But still, even with all that true why not make the service work to a high level? This is why the municipalities are starting their own systems. Customers want better service at similar cost especially with better availability and most certainly better upstream capability which fiber offers easily and the private ISP's cannot afford to upgrade to due to their longterm amortized costs for copper/POTS/DSL/Docsis1.0/Regular TV head end equipment.

•••
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

how long does it take for a dumb HDTV to die?

the cable industry has no plans to introduce symmetric anything below 10 megabits in the next 5-10 years. only the loss of broadband subscribers (by the tens of thousands) who are very apathetic to competition even in some circumstances where a better deal is to be had...

look at the overlay of Verizon FIOS and ANY other cable company such as comcast or cablevision. in both circumstances, the cable companies lead by a SUBSTANTIAL MARGIN with (arguably) inferior BROADBAND service-- comparing FIOS VS docsis 2.0 & 3.0 as offered TODAY.

we're only seeing the infancy of streaming video direct to IP boxes hooked up to LCD HDTV sets, and as the older sets are replaced direct via wireless or wires-- so traditional cable-tv will see it's business model become increasingly under attack, at this point... it's who's got the fastest last mile that's gonna matter.
chgo_man99
join:2010-01-01
Sunnyvale, CA

chgo_man99

Member

When I lived in poland

I remember those exciting community projects taken by my neighbors before DSL was alive and ISDN was still more popular. The telco released a hish-speed internet service but it was not DSL. It was like ISDN but you did not have do dial-in. It offered maximum speed 115 kb/s and when you talked on a phone connected to the seame line, it dropped to 70kb/s. It was in year 2000 and the price for hsi was around 150 or more. No one of course could afford those prices, so one came with an idea to share it between few homes using ethernet cable. Not sure if this worked because I never had deal with them, but I imagine it was very slow and unstable. There is a max limit for these cables (like 100base-tx 100 m without a repeater, older 10base-5 500m). But even if a physical layer was not a problem, it was surely a congestion.
33358088 (banned)
join:2008-09-23

33358088 (banned)

Member

remember USA peeps

remember that every time you over pay badly its less money YOU have to spend on other facets of the economy thus YOUR internet sucks money out of the economy

Barack obama said on 60 minutes they want to focus on the economy , then make things cheaper....

10-20% ROI is more then enough, that every 5 years you get back and can upgrade and 100megabit and 200 megabit will be enough for hte next 10-12 years...easy
chgo_man99
join:2010-01-01
Sunnyvale, CA

chgo_man99

Member

Re: remember USA peeps

i'd love people to go more often to cinemas, theatres (not necessarily boring plays (perhaps I confuse them with operas) but like standup comedians), eat out (mcdonalds doent count) than spend too much time at homes.

And nothing more relaxing than saving money for a weekend in Florida Miami or San Diego during cold winters. There is so much to do in the world. And if you do them with friends, you connect more with them beyond workplace, schools and Internet (social networking sites, IM, etc).

MonkeyLick78
join:2002-01-27
Hixson, TN

MonkeyLick78

Member

Great..

Great to see more cities taking a stand and offering superior service. It's nice to see some people aren't falling into the "good enough" mindset. Demand more for your money, people!
Obrj
join:2008-05-02
Matthews, NC

Obrj

Member

Looks like Greenlight Is The Way To Go Wilson!!

man if we had greenlight in charlotte i would flip the heck out!!! Freakin Wilson!! Really?? Man that is so tight man make sure to support the city if you live there and no more twc or anyone when they are offering speeds that kill everyone in the triad area and in NC alone!! 20/20 in wilson for 65 kills twc alone!! If you live in wilson and you dont have greenlight your just an idiot. Big ups to wilson taking care of the community!!