This really reminds me of 1990.  Back then, a few bad actors in the cable industry were acting so naughty, they created a groundswell of support for legislative action against the cable industry as a whole.  At the beginning of the 1990s, it was sky high rate increases, poor service, and trying to deny competitors access to cable programming networks.  The level of arrogance among the cable companies reached a high point when, then Senator Al Gore (D-TN), called the industry as a “cable cosa nostra.”  We were in the thick of it back then, working to get passage of S.12, a bill to re regulate cable which passed in 1992.

In 2009, some of the same winds are blowing.  The industry is attempting to “test” pricing for broadband that either rations Internet usage, or extorts an enormous amount of money for it.  Industry leaders promise upgrades in return for rate hikes to customers, and then tell their own investors those upgrades are not immediately necessary.  They use inconsistent arguments, bought-and-paid-for research, and clueless legislators who are duped (or bought) to carry their legislative agenda.

It always takes just a few issues, usually coming in sequence, to turn a minor skirmish into a major war, and I think we’re one or two issues away from a full court press to force dramatic changes in the cable and telephone industry.  So far, the issues which are coalescing include:

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Rep. Ty Harrell, who we’ve been lobbying very hard to get to drop a nasty anti-consumer bill designed to stop municipal broadband, has accepted that the matter requires considerable additional review, and HB 1252 has been buried for the year in a “study committee” to “review” its impact.

In North Carolina politics, that usually means an elected official waded too far out in deep water and needs a lifesaver, and the “bill needs further study” approach is a great way to survive an angry constituent bees nest.  The “study committee” will review the legality of the measure and consider the issue before bringing a report back to the House and Senate for consideration, but a number of pieces of legislation that end up going this route are never heard from again.

We’ve received reports the hearing room was packed with people.  Among the “pro-HB1252” audience were people supporting the astroturfing “Americans for Prosperity,” a pro-corporate group that pelted North Carolina residents with harassing recorded calls earlier this week.  The “anti-HB1252” audience was made up of consumers sent by StoptheCap! and Jay Ovittore’s Facebook group fighting Time Warner Cable on various fronts in his home state, as well as representatives from municipalities, advocates for fiber network development, and supporters who learned about the event from Free Press.

This represents our second pro-consumer victory in less than a month against big cable and telco companies.  Thank you to everyone who made calls, sent e-mail, lobbied their elected officials, and attended today’s event.  To those that supported this nonsense in the first place, unless we note an acknowledgment of the mistakes made in supporting this anti-consumer nightmare, this will be an issue we’ll be reminding voters of come next election day.  This remains a fundamental consumer issue, and who stood with and against consumers will need to be revisited.

Bad weather across the state is leading in the news today across the region, but we’ll have further developments on this story later today.

[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.

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The month long experiment with Frontier DSL ended today when I canceled the service.  Frontier Communications of Rochester is the only broadband competitor for Time Warner in the Flower City, advertising speeds up to 10Mbps.  The key words there are “up to” and the fine print where they disclose they do not guarantee speed is something very important to consider, because they mean it.

I have to say that Frontier’s second tier of customer support personnel are friendly, helpful, and accommodating, which is a net plus for them.  The front line customer service representatives in DeLand, Florida are another matter.  They do not know their own products, messed up my account twice, and one managed to refer to their wireless network in this city as “wee-fee” for several weeks before I corrected her.  She was surprised when I explained it was pronounced “why-fi.”

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Be sure and check those credit card and debit card statements every month.  While perusing mine, I discovered two fraudulent charges I never authorized, and the bank is closing the card number down and charging them back:

04-25-2009 STUFF FOR MINIONS 561-459-1883 FLUS $30.99
05-05-2009 CCWEBCREATIVE 785-527-9676 NYUS $13.29

“Stuff for Minions” claims to be a pet supply store with a suspiciously bland catalog and website. The name doesn’t exactly match either. Calling the number takes you nowhere. “CC Web Creative” is permanently forwarded to a voicemail box with a NYC accented woman prompting you to e-mail them instead. Yeah, like that is going to happen. The website is a generic web template slightly modified with contact information that is hardly detailed.

Stuff for Minions hit more folks early on, and usually for around $30. The CC Web Creative charge is more recent and is probably now popping up on credit card and debit card statements only this week.

What usually happens is someone gets access to a card number through another purchase you made and then resells it. The subsequent charges that are made are usually under $50 and are generic enough to make one assume they are a result of a spouse or child who ordered something, and because the dollar amount is inconsequential for a lot of people, they don’t hurry to investigate. The Stuff for Minions victims reported about four additional charges from other companies.

Lesson to learn: If any charge looks suspicious, investigate it, even if a small dollar amount. If you don’t, it will lead to potentially many more.