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Monday Afternoon in the Endless Dreary Winter of Western NY

Phillip Dampier April 6, 2009 Editorial & Site News No Comments

I wanted to take a moment and give everyone some updates on what’s been happening behind the scenes here at StoptheCap! as the rain continues to fall and a winter storm watch is up for snow here in what was supposed to be spring.  It’s sunny and well into the 50s in Texas, and 76 in Greensboro, and we hate you for it.

First, after an incredibly exhausting week of writing, writing some more, and then writing even more than that, I’ve been working on developing some of the important resources you’ll need to take action.  You will find a new link at the top of the page for that, and that section will be expanded greatly to include links to various resources, contact information for all of the important players, petitions, social groups, politicians and company officials.  It’s a labor intensive project, so there will be fewer new articles posted here until that section is expanded.  Some of the other links along the top of the page will also be modified and expanded.

Along the left side of your screen, you will find the most recent comments posted, some of the articles that have left the front page but are still important, a new links section which I’ve just started, and towards the bottom, under Meta, a link to sign up for your own account here so you can leave comments without having to retype your name and e-mail address over and over.  You can also change your avatar and become more personable in the comments section.  Another update now lets you reply to individual comments and have them display just below the original.

Second, a hat tip to Kate Perry at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle who is continuing to provide more depth on the Time Warner cap issue than any other newspaper reporter in all of the affected communities.  A major story in the Sunday edition gave additional perspective on this issue from some of the national players.  A follow-up piece coming shortly will cover additional local reaction.  When I saw the first report on this cap issue, which was a pretty basic piece reflecting Time Warner’s position and little more, I had feared we were in for shallow coverage of this important story.  I am happy to withdraw that concern and thank the D&C and Ms. Perry for their reporting!

Third, thanks to SoundBytes, the long-running computer users group of the airwaves (Sunday 12-1pm ET on WHAM-AM 1180 Rochester), listeners had a place to vent about the cap issue and also learn about StoptheCap! The program can be streamed online anywhere, and when the archive show is posted, we’ll have a link to it here.  Meanwhile go and vote in their poll.  Fifty-three percent of respondents thus far say they will cancel Road Runner if they impose usage caps.

I have been doing a number of press interviews since Friday on this story.  What has become apparent is that no newspaper, much less a television newscast, has the time to explore a lot of the underlying issues regarding usage caps.  And it’s very easy to get far out into the weeds on a story like this.  Most media outlets have to keep it simple because of space/time constraints.  Thankfully, we don’t have those limitations here.  I will continue to devote a lot of time and attention to helping you understand this issue as fully as possible, because knowledge is power and it will help you fight back.  I will do that through industry news items, talking points, and background stories.  It’s clear I have a lot of work to do based on Letters to the Editor like this.

Fourth, our story on Frontier was picked up by Broadband Reports, which also does excellent coverage on the usage cap question and other broadband-related stories.  It’s a must-read for anyone intensely interested in broadband issues.  Bookmark it.

Fifth (whew), I’m not the only one who has not received a call back from Earthlink’s Corporate Communications department.  We are still trying to confirm through official corporate channels whether Earthlink will remain cap-free come fall.  Right now the answer is “there are no caps.”  But our question is, “will there be caps if/when Time Warner imposes them on Road Runner, which uses one of the same delivery platforms that Earthlink uses.”  We’re still waiting on an answer.

Finally, I’ve received some e-mail from interested volunteers and I will be in touch shortly.  But we need more, especially from Texas and North Carolina.  Please use the contact form (link at the top of the page) to contact me.  I need people on the ground in these areas who can point to news articles, TV news coverage, alternative providers, pricing, etc.

I’ll be back later with more coverage.

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