Hultquist

Hank Hultquist, AT&T’s federal regulatory vice president, is taking questions on broadband Internet policy in an upcoming Washington Post piece.

Here is your chance to question AT&T about broadband issues ranging from Internet Overcharging schemes like usage caps and rationing experiments, Net Neutrality, U-verse and DSL broadband expansion, and AT&T’s involvement in the public policy arena.

AT&T is currently seeking major changes to the $8 billion Universal Service Fund that helps subsidize phone service for rural Americans.  AT&T wants to see that fund expanded to subsidize broadband improvements, which will directly benefit AT&T as it is among the top recipients of USF funds.  With 16 million current broadband customers and a service area that extends into the often-rural midwest and southern parts of the country, AT&T could receive a windfall in federal funds to pay for broadband service it doesn’t provide many areas today.

But what kind of broadband service will AT&T offer?  The company recently concluded a trial limiting use of its AT&T DSL service to customers in Beaumont, Tex., and Reno, Nev.  AT&T claims it is currently analyzing the results of that trial, and could bring usage limits on all of its customers.  Feel free to pose your own questions in the comments section of the Washington Post article (reg required) or sending an e-mail to Cecilia Kang (kangc@washpost.com) no later than Friday morning.

Scott Cleland, who runs the dollar-a-holler, broadband-industry funded astroturf group Net Competition already has his question in:

Shouldn’t those broadband Internet users (consumers or big businesses), who use the most bandwidth and benefit the most from faster more ubiquitous broadband, contribute relatively more to the Universal Service fund than those consumers and businesses that use much less bandwidth? Isn’t that the basic fairness principle that has long undergirded the current Universal Service fund, which is based on long distance usage/minutes?

Scott Cleland
Chairman, NetCompetition.org an eforum supported by broadband interests

Do you want to pay the higher broadband bills that Cleland advocates?

Kang promises to include as many of your questions as possible and post the Q&A early next week.

Other coverage you may enjoy:

1. America’s Worst Broadband: 10 Counties Stuck in the Slow Lane
2. FCC Releases National Broadband Plan: A Wish List for Broadband Isn’t Good Enough
3. Washington County, NY Considers Spending $40,000 On Broadband Study – Rural Broadband Revisited
4. UK Scraps Phone Tax to Fund Rural Broadband
5. Lobbyist Money Party: Comcast & AT&T Stuff Millions Into Lawmaker Pockets for Telecom Issues & Executive Pay “Reform”

North Carolina faces a moratorium on municipal broadband deployment.  On Wednesday, Senators David Hoyle and Daniel Clodfelter will introduce a bill expected to stall community broadband projects across the state.  The bill, which has yet to be seen by the public, should appear in the Revenue Laws Study Committee, co-chaired by Clodfelter.  We have heard the bill faces mere minutes of consideration before a quick vote, in hopes of moving it forward before the public finds out what elected officials are doing on their behalf.

Proponents of the moratorium argue that municipal broadband harms private industry and reduces tax revenue the state earns from those businesses.  But their argument lacks something — merit.  Missing from the debate are the actual numbers from the state’s largest telecommunications companies.  How much tax revenue does Time Warner Cable, AT&T and CenturyLink (formerly EMBARQ) generate?  We don’t know and the two senators (and the companies involved) aren’t saying.

Municipal broadband projects bring numerous benefits to North Carolina communities:

• jobs (taxpayers);
• high tech businesses moving into the state (taxpayers);
• entrepreneurial innovation that creates new small businesses (taxpayers); and
• benefits to the education and health care sectors (future taxpayers and keeping current taxpayers alive and healthy).

Make no mistake — a moratorium is just a stall tactic to protect current provider profits and avoid competition, all while giving them more time to organize a push for a permanent ban on such projects.

Why are Hoyle and Clodfelter only concerned with protecting incumbent telecom companies?  What about the rest of us?

Please join us tomorrow at the Legislative Office Building in Raleigh, and perhaps we can ask them.

Action Alert — We Need Your Attendance!

• Where: Legislative Office Building, Raleigh
• When: Wednesday May 5th at 9:30am, Room 544
• Why: Just having consumers in the room make elected officials nervous, especially when they are about to introduce a bill the public has never seen five minutes before a vote to move it forward in the short legislative session starting May 12th.

GOOGLE AND SEVEN INDUSTRY GROUPS OPPOSE NC MUNICIPAL BROADBAND MORATORIUM

Raleigh, NC – May 4, 2010   Google, Intel and six other private sector groups announced strong opposition today to a North Carolina municipal broadband moratorium being considered by the General Assembly’s Revenue Laws Study Committee, calling it “a step in the wrong direction,” “counterproductive” and “conspicuously in opposition to national broadband policy.” Legislation to prohibit municipal broadband deployments in the state is expected to be introduced and voted on tomorrow May 5. At least 45 individual communities in North Carolina, including Raleigh, Cary, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Greensboro, Asheville and Wilmington, recently applied to partner with Google on its announced plans to build ultra-high speed fiber to the home systems.

In a strongly-worded letter to North Carolina’s House and Senate leadership, Google, Intel, Alcatel-Lucent, the Fiber to the Home Council (FTTC), American Public Power Association (APPA), Atlantic Engineering, Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), and the United Telecom Council (UTC) stated that such a bill would harm both the public and private sectors. “It would thwart public broadband initiatives, stifle economic growth, prevent the creation or retention of thousands of jobs, and diminish quality of life in North Carolina. In particular, it would hurt the private sector in several ways: by undermining public-private partnerships; hamstringing the private sector’s ability to sell its goods and services; interfering with workforce development; and stifling creativity and innovation.”

“Enactment of a counterproductive municipal broadband moratorium would put North Carolina conspicuously in opposition to national broadband policy,” the letter states, and continues: “The Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan also admonishes states not to interfere with community broadband efforts where local officials do not believe that the private sector is acting quickly enough to meet community broadband needs.  Consistent with these expressions of national policy, communities across America are doing their share to contribute to the rapid deployment of broadband to all Americans.”

Those words echo a similar statement by FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn just last week in Asheville, NC. Commissioner Clyburn equated such a moratorium to denying citizens “the opportunity to connect with their nation and improve their lives” and called such a move “counterproductive,” one which could ” impede the nation from accomplishing the [National Broadband] Plan’s goal of providing broadband access to every American and every community anchor institution.”

A bill supported by Time Warner Cable and AT&T, the municipal broadband moratorium is being pushed by Senators Hoyle (D-Gaston) and Clodfelter (D-Charlotte Mecklenburg) for the alleged purpose of protecting the private sector and associated state tax revenues. But opponents to the bill argue the bill would hurt the private sector and even these representatives’ local constituents. Such a moratorium would terminate the City of Charlotte’s recent plans to build a multi-million dollar municipal network to provide broadband service to its public safety, educational, government institutions and the unemployed through the use of federal ARRA broadband funds. The bill also has the potential to make both Gaston and Gaston County less attractive to Google with whom they submitted an application to partner for a fiber to the home network.

“North Carolina should be lowering barriers to public broadband initiatives rather than establishing new ones, so that we and other high technology companies can spread and prosper across this beautiful state,” the letter states. At least 45 individual communities in North Carolina, including Raleigh, Cary, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Greensboro, Asheville and Wilmington, recently applied to be partners with Google on its announced plans to bring  fiber to the home to between 50,000 to 500,000 households in an effort to unleash advanced scientific, educational, medical and environmental applications through these ultra-high speed networks, now being deployed throughout the world and in China. North Carolina already has two municipalities, Wilson and Salisbury, deploying these fiber systems to their residents.

Jay Ovittore, co-Director at Communities United for Broadband says, “A moratorium or any other barriers to “real” next generation broadband deployment would be a leap in the wrong direction for North Carolina’s citizens and for North Carolina’s economy.”  Communities United for Broadband is a citizen run advocacy group that promotes the exchange of ideas between communities, both rural and urban, to find the best solutions for their broadband needs.  You can find Communities United for Broadband on Facebook at http://bit.ly/aW6skP and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CUFB

For more information:

www.broadband4everyonenc.com

http://groups.google.com/group/nc-public-broadband

http://stopthecap.com/2010/04/28/fcc-commissioner-mignon-clyburn-speaks-in-favor-of-municipal-broadband-projects-at-seatoa-conference/

http://www.muninetworks.org/

The Fiber to the Home Council also sent a separate letter to North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue.

You can continue to write the legislators who are pushing this industry written legislation.  Trust me they are hearing you. Be nice, but let them know you do not want a moratorium on muni-broadband, it will hurt economic development in our state and you want what the rest of the world enjoys for broadband access.

• Sen. Daniel Gray Clodfelter (Co-Chair) Mecklenberg Daniel.Clodfelter@ncleg.net (919) 715-8331 Democrat (704) 331-1041 Attorney
• Sen. Peter Samuel Brunstetter Forsyth Peter.Brunstetter@ncleg.net (919) 733-7850 Republican (336) 747-6604 Attorney
• Sen. David W. Hoyle Gaston David.Hoyle@ncleg.net (919) 733-5734 Democrat (704) 867-0822 Real Estate Developer/Investor
• Sen. Samuel Clark Jenkins Edgecomb, Martin, Pitt Clark.Jenkins@ncleg.net (919) 715-3040 Democrat (252) 823-7029 W.S. Clark Farms
• Sen. Jerry W. Tillman Montgomery, Randolph Jerry.Tillman@ncleg.net (919) 733-5870 Republican (336) 431-5325 Ret’d school teacher
• Rep. Harold J. Brubaker Randolph Harold.Brubaker@ncleg.net 919-715-4946 Republican 336-629-5128 Real Estate Appraiser
• Rep. Becky Carney Mecklenberg Becky.Carney@ncleg.net 919-733-5827 Democrat 919-733-5827 Homemaker
• Rep. Pryor Allan Gibson, III Anson, Union Pryor.Gibson@ncleg.net 919-715-3007 Democrat 704-694-5957 Builder/TWC contractor
• Rep. Dewey Lewis Hill Brunswick, Columbus Dewey.Hill@ncleg.net 919-733-5830 Democrat 910-642-6044 Business Exec (Navy)
• Rep. Julia Craven Howard Davie, Iredell Julia.Howard@ncleg.net 919-733-5904 Republican 336-751-3538 Appraiser, Realtor
• Rep. Daniel Francis McComas New Hanover Danny.McComas@ncleg.net 919-733-5786 Republican 910-343-8372 Business Executive
• Rep. William C. McGee Forsyth William.McGee@ncleg.net 919-733-5747 Republican 336-766-4481 Retired (Army)
• Rep. William L. Wainwright Craven, Lenoir William.Wainwright@ncleg.net 919-733-5995 Democrat 252-447-7379 Presiding Elder

Don’t forget to thank those we have identified as on our side of the issue, for being forward thinking and truly representing the people:

• Sen. Daniel T. Blue, Jr. Wake Dan.Blue@ncleg.net (919) 733-5752 Democrat (919) 833-1931 Attorney
• Sen. Fletcher Lee Hartsell, Jr. Cabarrus, Iredell Fletcher.Hartsell@ncleg.net (919) 733-7223 Republican (704) 786-5161 Attorney
• Sen. Josh Stein Wake Josh.Stein@ncleg.net (919)715-6400 Democrat (919)715-6400 Lawyer
• Rep. Paul Luebke (Co-Chair) Durham Paul.Luebke@ncleg.net 919-733-7663 Democrat 919-286-0269 College Teacher
• Rep. Jennifer Weiss Wake Jennifer.Weiss@ncleg.net 919-715-3010 Democrat 919-715-3010 Lawyer-Mom

Other coverage you may enjoy:

1. Action Alert: North Carolina Anti-Municipal Broadband Bill Moved to House Utility Committee
2. Action Alert: North Carolina Legislature Considers Moratorium on Municipal Broadband – A Full Report
3. Action Alert: North Carolina, Get Writing Now for Municipal Broadband Protection!
4. North Carolina Action Alert Update – Get to Raleigh This Wednesday and Join the Fight
5. North Carolina Action Alert: Anti-Municipal Broadband Bill is Back & Better Than Ever (If You Are Time Warner Cable)

I had the pleasure of attending the SouthEast Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (SEATOA) conference this past weekend in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina.  I was surrounded by some of the leading visionaries in the fields of next-generation broadband deployment, broadband policy and important Public, Educational, and Government (PEG) access networks.

Among those in attendance:

• Kyle Hollifield, representing Bristol Virginia Utilities/BVU OptiNet, a municipally-owned fiber optic broadband provider in Bristol, Virginia;
• Colman Keane, from municipal utility EPB Telecom in Chattanooga, Tennessee;
• Tommy Jacobson from MCNC;
• Ken Fellman from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA);
• Hunter Goosman from ERC Broadband, which operates a regional fiber optic network in the western Carolinas;
• Brian Bowman, Public Affairs & Marketing Manager of Wilson, North Carolina, home of municipal fiber network Greenlight, and
• Michael Crowell, Broadband Services Director of Salisbury, North Carolina’s forthcoming fiber to the home network Fibrant.

The conference included several informational sessions for those working on broadband projects.

Tom Power, chief of staff for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and Jessica Zufolo from the Rural Utilities Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture discussed rounds one and two of the broadband stimulus grant program and lessons learned along the way.

Thomas Koutsky, representing the FCC Broadband Opportunities Initiative, the legendary Jim Baller and FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn also spoke about the importance of developing better broadband networks across the country.

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn delivered the keynote address at the SEATOA conference held in Asheville, N.C.

Thomas Koutsky, speaking about the National Broadband Plan said, “The National Broadband Plan is just a plan.  It doesn’t do anything by itself, it requires action.”  I couldn’t agree more.  The National Broadband Plan could culminate in a giant missed opportunity if we do not reach out and demand that our representatives in Washington get on board with a definitive plan to deliver better broadband across the country.  Washington is full of studies and recommendations that are little more than words on paper, sitting on a shelf because Americans didn’t demand action to implement them.

I could go on all day about Jim Baller and his inspiration that drives us all to fight for better broadband in America, but I will highlight this quote: “It is a disgrace that every American does not have affordable access.”  Baller rallied the crowd with a video clip from Al Pacino’s speech in Any Given Sunday.  It’s not difficult to carry Pacino’s message about football to our fight in the broadband arena, and the enthusiasm Baller brings can only be a positive.

Perhaps the most newsworthy event from the conference was a speech from the newest FCC Commissioner, Mignon Clyburn.  She gets it.  In an amazing 20-minute speech, Clyburn succinctly delivered a message we wish some of our state lawmakers would understand and support:

“Thus, the Plan recommends that Congress clarify that state and local governments should not be restricted from building their own broadband networks. I firmly believe that we need to leverage every resource at our disposal to deploy broadband to all Americans. If local officials have decided that a publicly-owned broadband network is the best way to meet their citizens’ needs, then my view is to help make that happen.

When cities and local governments are prohibited from investing directly in their own broadband networks, citizens may be denied the opportunity to connect with their nation and improve their lives. As a result, local economies likely will suffer. But broadband is not simply about dollars and cents, it is about the educational, health, and social welfare of our communities. Preventing governments from investing in broadband, is counterproductive, and may impede the nation from accomplishing the Plan’s goal of providing broadband access to every American and every community anchor institution.”

Clyburn’s speech clearly illustrates she’s an advocate for consumers and is interested in knocking down barriers that block Americans from enjoying world class broadband service.  Clyburn considers the National Broadband Plan a group effort developed by and for the American people, not just a policy document from the FCC.  It was truly an uplifting speech that gave me hope positive change in broadband and broadband policies are possible with her presence on the Commission.

Click here to view the embedded video.

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn delivers the keynote speech at the SEATOA conference.  Clyburn goes on record advocating municipally-run broadband projects where communities deem them appropriate.  This clip comes courtesy of Communities United For Broadband and you saw it first here on Stop the Cap! (April 27, 2010 — 20 minutes)

(This video is large in size.  If playback stops, please pause the video to allow more of the clip to load into the player’s buffer to reduce the chance of stalled playback.  If you still experience problems, please Contact Us.)

Other coverage you may enjoy:

1. FCC Commissioner Calls New Verizon Termination Fee ‘Shifting and Tenuous’
2. North Carolina Action Alert: Anti-Municipal Broadband Bill is Back & Better Than Ever (If You Are Time Warner Cable)
3. PBS Newshour Explores America’s Broadband Issues
4. Acting FCC Commissioner Releases Rural Broadband Report
5. The Devil Is In The Details: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Speaks About Broadband to Consumers

For those who tried to watch the live stream from this past Monday’s Internet Town Hall from Toronto, it was a process that demonstrated the limitations of broadband service in Canada.  Evidently the hotel broadband connection was inadequate for the task, and the stream suffered ongoing video and audio problems for the duration.

An audio podcast version has now become available and is included below.  Because the event runs nearly two hours, you may wish to download the audio and listen on the go.  If you want to listen here, remember that the audio player will only work as long as you remain on this page.

Internet Town Hall On Canadian Broadband/Net Neutrality Issues – Toronto, June 8, 2009 (1 Hour 50 minutes)
You must remain on this page to hear the clip, or you can download the clip and listen later.

Other coverage you may enjoy:

1. Frontier 1st Quarter 2009 Results Media Pack
2. Live Coverage of Canada’s Open Internet Town Hall – Toronto
3. Time Warner Cable 1st Quarter Results Media Pack
4. Sound Bytes: Local Computer Experts Skeptical About Usage Caps (WHAM-Rochester)
5. Powerboost Being Deployed At No Charge to All Standard Service Road Runner Customers

Live Coverage of SaveOurNet.ca‘s National Open Internet Town Hall, netcasting from Toronto has now concluded.  Unfortunately, connectivity issues at the hotel plagued the live streaming event, and a good deal of it was not available on the live stream.  A recording of the presentation should be forthcoming shortly, and will be embedded in this space, when available.

Other coverage you may enjoy:

1. NBC Plans to Stream NFL Football This Fall: A False Start Called for Capped Customers
2. Action Alert! Rep. Dan Maffei Town Hall Meeting Thursday (Irondequoit, NY)
3. Important Reminder: Rep. Eric Massa’s (D-NY) Second Town Hall Meeting Tonight
4. Action Alert! Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) Town Hall Meetings Thursday & Friday (Pittsford/Henrietta, NY)
5. KVUE Austin – Rescind Caps or Open Up for Competition

[Editor's Note: Our current software does not require users to confirm their e-mail address before submitting comments on this site, although the individual purporting to be Rep. Ty Harrell did use a correct e-mail address for the representative.  On the chance that the comments expressed on this site are from the representative, our reply should be taken with that understanding.]

Someone signing their name Rep. Ty Harrell and using his e-mail address left the following general comment on two articles on our site regarding the North Carolina legislation HB 1252, which is essentially a custom written bill by and for the cable and telephone industry in an effort to impede municipal broadband network development inside the state.  Today, the legislation will be taken up by the Public Utilities Committee for review.  StoptheCap! is calling on all North Carolina citizens to do their best to attend this meeting and be prepared to protest this legislation in the strongest possible terms, and demand that representatives vote “no” on it.  At this time, only telephone calls should be made to your elected representatives.  It’s too late for e-mail.  This is the link for information about the group assembling for today’s Committee meeting in Raleigh.  Here is information about the earlier Call to Action.

Ty Harrell on May 5, 2009 at 11:19 pm

The only thing I have asked you and others to do is trust me. As hard as it may seem, this entire bill has more to it than meets the eye. Hopefully, you’ll hear what happens with the bill tomorrow in the Public Utilities Committee.

Many thanks for your attention and consideration.

Best wishes,
Ty

Rep. Harrell, with the assumption we are reaching you personally and not someone using your name, let us reiterate that while we appreciate your consideration of our views, it is simply imperative for you to understand in no uncertain terms that the cable and telephone industry and their lobbyists are among the craftiest people around.  I’ve followed this industry for more than 20 years, and their abilities continue to impress me.  I assure you that unless you have an equal amount of experience in dealing with them, you are not going to outsmart them.  They will outsmart you in ways you may not yet understand.  The only acceptable course of action that will restore our faith in your representation of the good people of North Carolina is a withdrawal of this legislation from any further consideration.  It cannot be amended in any way that will not signal a victory for the telecom lobbies who are doing everything possible to stall, impede, or prevent municipal competition.  We would like to think this entire endeavor was a mistake, a misunderstanding, or simply a case of getting into the hornet’s nest you noted in some earlier statements.  It’s always better not to be stung any further.  Do the right thing.

If you would like to learn more about the impact of municipal broadband in small and medium sized communities across America, and how commercial providers respond to it, there is no better and more timely example that Lafayette, Louisiana.  They fought with big telco and cable companies for more than five years to construct a broadband fiber network.  They finally won, and so will the people of Lafayette, who will benefit from the most advanced broadband platform in the state.  Their pricing?  10Mbps down/10Mbps up – $28.94, 20Mbps/20Mbps – $44.95, and 50Mbps/50Mbps – $57.95 a month!

What is the incumbent cable company (Cox) doing now that they’ve not been able to force the city to give up its project?  They are competing!  They’ve announced an incredibly fast upgrade of their system in the area to the latest technology, DOCSIS 3, and are going to sell the people of Lafayette a 50Mbps broadband package (for more money, but this was the first city in Cox’s service area nationwide getting the upgrade — shocking for a community not exactly in a high tech corridor.)

When a municipal broadband network goes live in a community, the commercial providers finally cough up the upgrades they’ve spent years saying “no” to.  Don’t allow HB 1252 to just be the latest tool for the cable and telephone industry to use to say “no” to the people of North Carolina.  Withdraw it, vote against it, or do whatever it takes to shelve it.  Modifying it is simply not an acceptable option any longer.

Other coverage you may enjoy:

1. Rep. Ty Harrell – Big Cable’s BFF Admits He Found a “Hornet’s Nest” – Gets Stung Anyway
2. An Analysis of HB 1252: ‘The Entrenched Monopoly Protection Act’
3. North Carolina HB 1252: The Language
4. Call to Action – Act Now North Carolina Or Be Stuck With the Same Slow Choices You Have Now
5. Welcome to North Carolina Week!

This Wednesday morning, May 6th at 10:00am, the Public Utilities Committee is meeting in Room 1228 of the Legislative building on Jones St. in Raleigh to vote on HB 1252.  HB 1252 is the “Level Playing Field” bill, sponsored by Rep. Ty Harrell (D-Wake County), that would forever tie the hands of municipalities from ever offering better, faster and cheaper broadband Internet for their residents.  The city of Wilson already offers such a service called Greenlight.  After looking at what they offer for speeds and pricing, it will be understandable if you need a few moments for the anger over what you pay the “other guys” to dissipate and for your composure to return.

I am assembling a small army of outraged consumers across North Carolina to attend this critically important meeting and make our views known about HB 1252, which at its core screams anti-competition.  Everyone in North Carolina who cares about the cap issue, metered pricing, or municipal broadband needs to attend this meeting and show our feelings.  Municipal broadband is the safety valve we need to combat usage caps, price gouging, and rationed Internet.

Don’t be the hamster on the wheel spinning around and around in the cage current providers have constructed for our broadband service.  We deserve better, and we can make a difference!  Cable and telephone providers refuse to make the upgrades we demand and deserve.  Without competition, why spend the money to upgrade?  Let them get away with this, and you can be assured of slow speeds and bad service indefinitely.

Make an investment in yourself and your community and come to Raleigh this Wednesday morning.  Let’s demonstrate once again that organized consumers do not have to sit back and simply take what they give us.

When: Wednesday, May 6 10:00AM

Where: North Carolina Legislature Building, 16 West Jones Street, Raleigh (Here is a Google map of the area.)  Room 1228

Additional Information:  Be sure to follow any comments left on this article for last minute updates/information.  There is also a Facebook Group to oppose this bill and get late-breaking news and developments.

Jay Ovittore lives in North Carolina and is coordinating a pushback against corporate sponsored protection bills like HB 1252 and SB 1004 in the state legislature.

Other coverage you may enjoy:

1. Action Alert: North Carolina, Get Writing Now for Municipal Broadband Protection!
2. Call to Action: Push Poll Scam – Hang Up on the Pro-Cable/Telco Poll Calls in North Carolina!
3. Wilson, North Carolina Builds Its Own Municipal Fiber Optic System When Others Didn’t Step Up
4. Action Alert: North Carolina Anti-Municipal Broadband Bill Moved to House Utility Committee
5. Welcome to North Carolina Week!

"Hey Time Warner - Educate This!"

Here are some pictures from the rally this afternoon at Time Warner in Rochester, New York.  Click the individual images to enlarge them if you wish.  Courtesy: Jerry, who sent them our way.

"Give Us Gigabytes Or Give Us Death!"

Time Warner Providing a Friendly & Inviting Image

Every Entrance But One Was Blocked Off, With Temporary Signs Galore

A Lot of Customers Probably Figured They Were Closed

In Front of the Employee Entrance, Which Time Warner Blocked

Protesters Extending Beyond the Building

Protesters En Route

Walking Down Mt. Hope Avenue

In Front of Time Warner

Other coverage you may enjoy:

1. Back in Business: And Protest Notes
2. Rally Reminders – Today! – Greensboro & Rochester
3. Radio Havana: Soaking In The Propaganda On TW’s Twitter Channels & An Update On That 50/5 $99 Tier
4. Alex Dudley: Trials Will Be “Abandoned” If They Meet Too Much Hostility
5. WHEC-TV – Rochester: How the Measuring of Internet Usage Could Affect You

I managed to get down to the rally site at Highland Park with the plan of zipping down to the cable store to swap cable modems and be across the street in time for the arrival of the walking protest group.  When I arrived at the cable store, Wilfred Brimley was standing at the bifurcation point of the parking lot, shooting dagger stares at everyone.  Time Warner security.  In addition to having all but one entrance blocked off with cones and Time Warner trucks backed end to end (were they expecting Hezbollah?), someone got out the FedEx Kinko’s card and ran up a dozen “private property – for business customers only” signs and planted them all around the entrances.

I entered the cable store, which had another security guy sitting at his desk, and one family waiting for service.  I was in and out in five minutes with a replacement cable modem.

Wilfred was still glaring in my direction.  I got back into the car and parked across the street and waited.  Within 10 minutes, the 30+ protesters arrived (when people assume the matter was resolved with Senator Schumer’s visit, it does have a tendency to reduce turnout until people become re-engaged), and more security turned up outside of the building.  The group then ended up on the sidewalk in front of Time Warner and spent about an hour waving signs and accepting waves and honks from passersby.  I shook the hand of one Time Warner employee who came out to say hello.  As I’ve always said, I don’t have any issues with local employees, or even management.  They play the cards they were dealt.

Just prior to leaving, I get a phone call on my cell phone from … Time Warner.  They were expediting my service call to this afternoon and asked if I would be home to receive them.  I asked the lady calling if she could see me waving at her from the sidewalk.  Upon reaching home, a Time Warner repair truck arrived several minutes later and, it seems, found that the new modem may have done the trick.  He also checked the signals on the pole and changed a fitting, and we seem to be back in business.

Also as I’ve always said, Time Warner delivers excellent service to their customers, and the service crews are top notch.  That’s all the more reason why we want to fight to keep the excellent service we’ve had for years.  We just want to pay a reasonable and rational price for it.

The rally, by the way, attracted Channel 8/31, R-News (who didn’t have far to go), and I was told Channel 10.  The Democrat & Chronicle was also there.  I want to thank the rally organizers for their efforts and work on this.  We need these kinds of public events to help keep focus on these issues, and have a chance to make connections with each other to stay engaged.  If anyone has video, pictures, etc., please let me know.  I will arrange to have it embedded here for people to see.

Other coverage you may enjoy:

1. Call to Action! Greensboro Time Warner Protest Saturday
2. Senator Chuck Schumer to Visit Rochester & Protest Usage Caps: Our View
3. Early Friday Evening Notes
4. Rochester TW Internet Rationing Protest Event Saturday, April 18th (Updated)
5. Welcome Back!

Greensboro, North Carolina

If you are in the Greensboro area, please consider attending a peaceful public protest against unwarranted usage caps this Saturday.  The event runs at the same time the Rochester protest will take place.

Date: Saturday, April 18, 2009
Time: 11:00am – 5:00pm
Location: Time Warner Cable
Street: 1813 Spring Garden St‎
City/Town: Greensboro, NC

Whether or not you can attend, please also consider contacting your congressmen and protest the outrageous rate increase this represents:

Congressman Brad Miller (336) 574-2909
Congressman Howard Coble (336) 333-5005

The Greensboro City Council should also hear from you on this issue.

You can obtain additional information on this protest event on Facebook.

Other coverage you may enjoy:

1. Rochester TW Internet Rationing Protest Event Saturday, April 18th (Updated)
2. Greensboro’s First Road Runner Customer Blasts Time Warner: “Greed, That’s All It Is”
3. Media Roundup: How the Time Warner Internet Rationing Plan Is Being Covered
4. Action Alert! Rep. Dan Maffei Town Hall Meeting Thursday (Irondequoit, NY)
5. KOOP-FM Austin Program About Time Warner Usage Caps – Archived Show Coming Soon