The trade association for independent cable systems trumpeted their belief that broadband usage caps and metered pricing was inevitable, and pointed to Sunflower Broadband as a perfect example of how metering can work in a community.

Sunflower, a podunk provider in the Lawrence, Kansas area has been sticking it to their customers for the last four years with tiers as low as 1GB of usage with $2 a GB in overlimit fees thereafter.  For Patrick Knorr, who works for Sunflower and is also ex-officio chair of ACA, life is good.  But the people of Lawrence think otherwise.  They’ve recognized they are stuck in a broadband backwater with Sunflower sticking it to them with very high prices and not so great service, but for a lot of folks, it’s their only choice.  AT&T offers DSL service without caps, but many people in Lawrence are not close enough to get good speed.  When living in a backwater this bad, people try and innovate, and the Lawrence Freenet was the result.  It’s a non-profit organization offering wi-fi access without Sunflower’s caps within Lawrence.

For smaller cities across America, the lack of competition nearly always equals high pricing for limited quality service.  Sunflower illustrates that in action.  In rural areas, equity of access to broadband at affordable prices is becoming a national issue.  Perhaps regulation may be the best answer when providers get out of hand.