Comments on: Wilson, North Carolina Builds Its Own Municipal Fiber Optic System When Others Didn’t Step Up

By: damix

damix — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 14:53:16 +0000

In Texas, a state law prohibits municipalities from providing certain broadband services like wireless. At the time, few paid attention to the law, lobbied by SBC, ATT and Time Warner. Essentially, it reduces competition by taking municipalities out of the field of potential competitors. If it were not in place, Time Warner wouldn’t dare attempt what they propose for Austin since we already have a functioning city wide public utility(Austin Energy) that could afford to embark on a city wide high speed broadband effort.
City of Austin should lobby to change that law at the state level. Time Warner sees their broadband as an entertainment service similar to cable TV. I say internet is just as important as electricity and therefore it’s reasonable to expect Austin Energy to provide it. Cable TV, to me, is optional and insignificant.

By: Mike R

Mike R — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:27:43 +0000

I’m biased, but it seems that that Fairport (especially the village) would be a perfect fit for this.

Why?

1 ) Most of the village has above ground poles, make wiring much easier
2 ) The poles are owned and maintained by a municipal agency already (Fairport Electric)
3 ) The property density is high — less fiber to wire per household.

By: arhyarion

arhyarion — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:23:05 +0000

Seriously. This is an excellent idea. Every city which has one ISP holding a virtual monopoly on broadband internet should be examining this possibility. How much longer until Time Warner starts punitively cancelling your service like they have begun in Austin? Let’s find out what it would take to set up similar services in our own town. The new behavior of Time Warner in Austin is the last straw. Even if they don’t cap now, we should all be doing our best to get away from this corporation. I will be investigating what it will take to replicate Wilson’s success here in Rochester.

By: austin#7889

austin#7889 — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:07:43 +0000

Thanks Phil for confirming that they don’t cap.

Even if the city uses tax money (which IT DIDN’T), I wouldn’t mind all if my tax money is used that way, much better than wasting it all for wars and bailouts. In fact, if they do it in Austin, I’ll be happy to pay more tax for a few years to fund the network setup.

By: T.M.

T.M. — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:38:22 +0000

More cities, towns and villages should look closely at Wilson and seriously consider following their commendable lead on this issue. The internet will be as impotent as any utility in the near future, and already is to many. Nobody would dream of selling water for your home on a private market like they do with internet service.