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.

North Carolina residents get pro-industry "push poll" calls.

Silly rabbit, tricks are for kids.  A certain company or group of companies is apparently spending some of the money that could be spent on better things (DOCSIS upgrades?) to run a disingenuous “push polling” scam on the residents of Wilson, North Carolina.  A “push poll” incorporates propaganda or misinformation in an attempt to influence or alter the view of respondents under the guise of conducting a poll.  People receiving calls are given misleading suppositions and then polled on how they feel about them.

Our friends at Save NC Broadband report calls going out that include questions that cannot possibly be answered without siding with commercial providers.  I can only guess a few samples:

“Do you believe that your hard earned tax dollars should be used to pay for a socialist broadband Internet scheme that is designed to kill jobs in your community and destroy a tax-paying, capitalist company?”  Answer “yes if you hate America” or “no if you are not a traitor to the American dream.”

“If you knew that a local town or city was run by anti-American forces in league with communists that wanted to use government funding to control your Internet connection, would you be in favor of this government controlled network that might spy on you or are you opposed?”  Answer “in favor of a Communist takeover” or “as an upstanding American, I would have to be opposed.”

You get the idea, even if I over sprinkled some hyperbole on top for added flavor.  Alright, I poured it on….

If you live in Wilson or Salibury, you may be getting a call.  Tell the pollster you realize they’re working for big cable and telco interests and hang up the phone.

Later this week, the folks in league with the push polling firm hired to pull this scam will no doubt use some of the results in their effort to convince North Carolina legislators that there is no need for municipal broadband.

Don’t be a sucker for big cable and telco broadband that is terrified of competition.  Keep on your elected officials and tell them to oppose HB 1252, and make sure you call or write today because the bill comes before the Public Utilities Committee on Wednesday.

Also this week, we’re hearing from our readers who are starting to get replies from their elected officials.  StoptheCap! reader Shawn shares a particularly arrogant reply he got from Big Cable’s BFF, Rep. Ty Harrell, who helped introduce this horror show:

Thanks for your email. I appreciate hearing from you. I am to assume that you have read the bill, correct? Based on that assumption, you do realize that Wilson, and all of the other municipalities that have been reported on, have been exempted from the bill, correct?

Further still, you do realize that the bill does NOT prohibit any municipality from offering broadband services or any kind, correct?

Again, thank you for your email.

Warmest wishes,

Ty Rep. Ty Harrell NC State House, District 41 16 W. Jones Street Room 2121 Raleigh, NC 27601-1096 919.733.5602 [email protected]

Here is my suggested reply:

Thanks for your reply to my recent letter asking you to reconsider support for HB 1252.  I appreciated hearing from you, too.  I am to assume that you have fully contemplated the impact of your proposed bill, correct?  Based on that assumption, you do realize that I have a lot of questions about how much you and your staff know when I learned that a Time Warner staff member and an attorney who represents the industry had to answer questions on your behalf posed in last week’s session in the Science & Technology Committee, correct?

Further still, you do realize that this pro-industry legislation, while not outright banning municipal broadband, turns the mechanics of building and running one into an Olympic event of Herculean proportions, which basically amounts to the same result — prohibiting them, correct?

And lastly, you do realize that if you should see fit to continue pushing this anti-consumer legislation, there is absolutely no chance whatsoever that you will have my vote, or those of my friends who agree with me, come the next election.

I urge you to reconsider your position on this important legislation and perhaps shelve or withdraw it until its fullest implications can be explored and weighed.

Again, thank you for your reply.

Warmest wishes,

An actual consumer who is unlikely to get a check from a telecom lobbyist in the near future.

(Leave off that last line and replace it with your own signature, of course.)

Get Busy North Carolina!

A sample letter is available to use as the basis for your own personal e-mail or call.  You can use this resource to find your own representative/senator by clicking on House/Senate from the menu bar at the top. Here is the e-mail contact list for North Carolina representatives:

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Many people still think of broadband Internet access as some sort of luxury “extra,” like a premium movie channel on your cable subscription, or maybe a nice dinner out at an expensive restaurant.  Only it’s not.  Increasingly, students are choosing where to attend school based on connectivity, high tech business incubators are built in communities where access is available at affordable prices, and now one New York State senator has released a report showing lack of access to affordable broadband is hurting the real estate market.

Senator George Winner (R/C/I – Elmira) released a report last fall documenting the trials and tribulations of inadequate availability and competition for broadband in smaller towns and cities, including many in his district in the southern tier of New York.

Winner fears that without equity of access and a healthy competitive marketplace, the impact will be felt community-wide.

Lack of access to broadband is influencing the real estate market. Homes that have broadband are winning out over more remote ones that don’t. Areas with better and faster broadband are becoming more desirable than ones with slower access. Experts believe that over time, the lack of universal broadband, could pull people from the countryside toward cities and suburbs. On the federal level, the FCC is considering using the Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes phone service in rural areas, to promote broadband coverage as well.

That’s why communities like Elmira, and others in the Twin Tiers region, were paying attention when Time Warner announced broadband usage cap experiments in Beaumont, Texas.  For most, Road Runner -is- their broadband provider.

Can anyone place that anchor’s accent?  It’s definitely not from the western New York area!

StoptheCap! heard from many Frontier customers scattered nationwide across their service area, which encompasses mostly rural communities from coast to coast.  For them, broadband Internet service means getting it from an expensive satellite service, or getting DSL from Frontier Communications.  There is no cable service in many of these communities.  When Frontier was considering a usage cap of 5GB per month, these consumers weren’t just alarmed, they were in full panic.

Rural and underserved markets are routinely bypassed by providers from the latest technological innovations, and are often under punitive contracts at high prices.  Senator Winner’s report details private and public initiatives to reach these communities.  He’s a conservative Republican who serves a district that would prefer not to be bothered by political schemes hatched in Albany, but the issue of broadband access is one that crosses party lines, as readers of this site have come to learn.  It’s not a right or left issue.  It’s one that will rapidly become as important as wiring communities for electricity and universal access to telephone service.

Expensive caps and overlimit fees are an anathema to the development of broadband nationwide.  It’s an issue rural communities are following, as they often have few, if any alternatives.

As I wrote earlier, this entire debate has barely budged in two years.  Wilson wants to run its municipal broadband service, and big cable and telco interests want to kill it if they can.  Two years after similar legislation died in the North Carolina legislature, the lobbyists and some co-opted state legislators are back for another round, trying to stop municipal broadband in its tracks with false statements about where these projects obtain funding.  The Wilson project, for example, was financed from a bond issue, with proceeds from subscription revenue going to repay bondholders.  No taxpayer funds are involved.  But cable lobbyists keep claiming otherwise, and also suggest they are being victimized by local governments.

The truth is, of course, the other way around.  Many smaller communities lack robust competition, and their citizens suffer for it.  System upgrades to bring additional speed at lower prices come to those areas where fierce competition exists.  Those stuck where competition is lacking or lackluster find upgrades slow in coming, if at all.  When a local government cannot convince companies to upgrade, they took it on themselves to get a better system up and running.  That can become a major selling point to attract new businesses, and keep residents on the cutting edge, usually at prices substantially lower than charged by incumbent providers.

Big corporate interests apparently cannot compete with better service and lower prices, so the next best thing is to find a politician willing to do your bidding to kill them off for you.  And as we’ve seen from Save NC Broadband’s reports, many of these legislators are so inept about comprehending the legislation they propose and support, they show their true colors when they simply defer to Time Warner’s own staff for speak for them!

Another great report from WRAL that tells the story.  The “cable guy” is back claiming tax dollars are involved here.  What in the world Rep. Ty Harrell is thinking is beyond me.  Also, can we stop with the metaphor of the TV showing a snowy picture?  We’re about ready to check into a deluxe suite in Hotel Cliché with that.

If you live in North Carolina, get writing. We need a full court press opposing North Carolina Senate Bill 1004 and North Carolina House Bill 1252, immediately!  Protecting the city of Wilson is also going to protect your choice to consider municipal broadband in your community.  A sample letter follows.  Be sure to modify it so that you are writing to the State Senate about SB 1004 and to the State House about HB1252.  Please write one in your own words for maximum effectiveness.  You can find e-mail addresses for your representative at the bottom.  Cut and paste the correct one and send an e-mail today!

April 24, 2009

Dear Senator [insert name] -or- Dear Representative [insert name]:

I am writing you to express my strong opposition to [Senate Bill 1004] -or- [House Bill 1252].  At a time when North Carolina continues to face the perils of a difficult economy, our state must do all that it can to work towards recovery.

As you may know, in 2007 the city of Wilson was confronted with a challenge.  The incumbent cable provider, Time Warner Cable, declined multiple requests by city officials to improve their broadband service for residential and business customers.  City officials decided that with the intransigent position by Time Warner, it had no other choice but to consider building its own municipal broadband system, with state of the art fiber optic technology.

It is unfortunate that most communities in our state have broadband service provided by a virtual duopoly – the cable company and the telephone company.  In markets where competition is less than strong, companies lack the incentive to improve service on an ongoing basis.  This left cities like Wilson confronting the fact they would soon be left in a broadband backwater when compared to Raleigh and other nearby cities.

You may have been told that tax dollars are being used to build this, and other, municipal broadband systems.  The city of Wilson’s system does not rely on one penny of taxpayer dollars.  Time Warner’s claims that this bill would provide a “level playing field” are dubious at best.  What this legislation effectively does is make municipal systems difficult and expensive to propose, untenable to administer, and give unwarranted protection to the existing commercial players.

Few municipalities in healthy, competitive markets, feel the need to build their own systems for the benefit of their communities.  But when competition barely exists, or does not exist at all, it would be devastating to limit a community to essentially “live with what they’ve got,” and this legislation is a one way ticket to that reality.  That means high technology businesses will locate elsewhere, good jobs will not be created, and our future competitiveness will be at serious risk.  Broadband is not just a convenience, it’s an absolute necessity.

Let me be clear.  It’s my opinion that any vote in favor of this legislation represents a vote for big business at the expense of the citizens of North Carolina.  It is an issue of critical importance to me, and others, and I urge you in the strongest possible terms to vote against this bill.

I appreciate your consideration, and look forward to hearing your views at your convenience.

Very truly yours,

[//signature//]

E-Mail Contacts [Find YOUR elected official here – don’t bother writing to those outside of your district]

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]