[Editor’s Note: My efforts to tell the story of Wilson in an orderly manner are being challenged by fast-moving developments in the state legislature.  So even though you have yet to see the story play itself out here in its entirety, if you live in North Carolina, this is something you need to act on today.  Wilson may not be a part of the Triad, but my friends, municipal broadband may be one way out of the cap mess once and for all, so you need to get involved in the fight.]

HB1252, a bill to severely curtail municipal broadband projects in North Carolina, was moved without prejudice Wednesday to the House Utility Committee for further consideration.

Brian Bowman, who runs the Save NC Broadband website, in addition to his other job — Public Affairs Manager for the city of Wilson, North Carolina, had some interesting observations of just how much involvement Time Warner has in this particular bill:

Several times, members of the committee asked bill sponsors Rep. Ty Harrell (Wake) and Rep. Thom Tillis (Mecklenburg) for clarification. The lawmakers turned to a Time Warner staff member and an attorney who represents the industry to speak on their behalf. You read that right. The sponsors, elected by their communities, had to ask a Time Warner representative to clarify what their own bill said.

Although the debate now moves to a different venue, the need for North Carolina residents to contact their state government representatives remains critical.  A comprehensive contact list is expected shortly at Save NC Broadband’s website.

The sponsors of this anti-consumer legislation are:

NC Rep. Ty Harrell, Ty.Harrell at ncleg.net, 919.733.5602

NC Rep. Earl Jones, Earl.Jones at ncleg.net, 919.733.5825

NC Rep. Marilyn Avila, Marilyn.Avila at ncleg.net, 919.733.5530

NC Rep. Thom Tillis, Thom.Tillis at ncleg.net, 919.733.5828

If any of these people represent you, get on the phones and/or e-mail them your profound disappointment for their anti-consumer position, and let them know you will remember their vote when they come up for re-election.  If your representative isn’t listed here, then you should be watching the Save NC Broadband site for further developments and contact information, and informing your elected officials of your opposition to HB1252.

Let them know this is a transparent effort by corporate interests to kill off municipal networks that are critical to deliver the high tech platform North Carolina needs to succeed in a high tech economy.  Remind them that municipal projects in Wilson do not rely on taxpayer dollars and are designed to be self-sustained by subscription revenue.  Also let them know these networks would not have been needed had the incumbent providers stepped up and provided an advanced level of service.  Because they didn’t, municipally-run networks for the benefit of their citizens are a positive development, and you want to make sure nothing is done to forestall their development.

Apparently not being sufficiently warned off by Time Warner’s earlier statements that municipal broadband would be expensive and a pain for the community of Wilson to administer, they found some friendly legislators in state government and helped push a bill that would effectively hamper, if not terminate the Wilson community’s broadband initiative. In a well orchestrated lobbying effort, cable industry officials began claiming that taxpayer funds were being used to leverage the public sector’s broadband product at the expense of “the free market.” But as Wilson city officials explained, their Greenlight project is firewalled from using public tax revenue. The project was paid for by a bond offering and is expected to be self-sustaining through ongoing customer receipts.

Cable industry officials continued to attack municipal broadband projects as failures waiting to happen, pointing to earlier projects that often relied on wireless networks, wi-fi, or older technology. Many cities with these projects have been unable to scale them to grow with expected demand, or have had difficulty expanding their network into other areas of the community. Others outsourced them to be administered by private providers in return for public considerations, such as free/discounted access in certain areas.

Fiber optic broadband projects are new to most municipal broadband projects, and come as a result of a lack of comparable service from private providers unwilling to meet the needs of communities. So having not succeeded in dissuading municipal competition, they now seek to effectively kill it with handcrafted legislation passed into friendly hands.

WRAL continues its in-depth coverage on the challenges Wilson, NC faces in building their municipal fiber network.  Time Warner officials, among others, make some unproven accusations and statements in this report that go unchallenged, but overall it provides a balanced look at the growing controversy.

The Messenger Post newspapers, which include several suburban weeklies and the Canandaigua Daily Messenger, printed an editorial Thursday celebrating the victory by consumers over Time Warner and its usage cap scheme.  It suggested the company is out of touch with its customers:

The Internet isn’t optional anymore. It’s not the exclusive domain of illegal downloaders and World of Warcraft gamers. Whether you’re looking for information on school closings or — ahem — researching your cable provider options, it’s ubiquitous, and that won’t change anytime soon.

True, the tiered pricing could have meant short-term savings for some light users, although savings would be minimal for customers already using a cheaper “light” service at a slower connection speed. Tech experts point out that computers are using bandwidth even when users aren’t online — and the computer is turned off.

The editorial, “The Battle May Be Over, But the War Is Not,” recognizes this website’s contribution to the victory against Time Warner, but also shares our sense that this is by no means over.

Ultimately, that opposition worked. Grass-roots activism among a crowd devoted to “Net neutrality” — the idea that Internet access shouldn’t be restricted — drummed up a fervor, largely through a constant flow of posts on sites like www.stopthecap.com. Schumer took the issue to Time Warner CEO Glenn Britt and the company halted the plan.

For now.

Advocates quickly realized this, noting on blogs like Stop the Cap! that while last week’s announcement was a “tentative victory,” “we have not come close to winning the war.” Indeed.

The groundswell of furious consumers has demonstrated its power. Now it must follow through on that enthusiasm.

We absolutely agree.  This website has already embarked on a comprehensive education campaign to give consumers ammunition to understand the broadband industry, learn surprising facts about some of the true costs to provide service, and steel themselves to resist the Time Warner Re-Education campaign we are likely to see over the spring and summer.  An informed consumer is an empowered one, well prepared to confront and debunk talking points that are designed to obfuscate the fact the cable broadband industry remains enormously profitable.  There is no legitimate reason why Time Warner cannot embark on necessary technology upgrades to keep up with the demands of the next generation of Internet users, without resorting to massive rate increases or rationing plans to drive usage (and their costs) down.  In competitive markets, they already have a track record of matching the competition.

We intend to explore every avenue open to us, starting with our desire that Time Warner will recognize the problem here was not about how they explained their plan — it was the plan itself.  If they refuse to listen, customers will cancel their service.  If they get to the point where their franchise in this area no longer meets the needs of the citizens here, then perhaps it’s time to consider not renewing that franchise.  If they redline communities like Rochester, among others, with punitive caps and lower quality service, than perhaps our future lies in advocating for a municipal broadband platform as found in Wilson, North Carolina.  One way or the other, our region’s destiny should not lie in the hands of one or two companies that have the power to dictate terms that turn our area backwards, while others move ahead.  We can’t afford to let this happen.

We’ve been here before.  Back in 2007, opposition to municipal networks by big cable and telephone companies led to a state bill that would have essentially killed off projects with an endless array of obstacles.  That’s where this story comes from.  Back then, Google got involved then to help fend off the anti-consumer legislation.  But as readers of this site know about big cable and big telcos, once defeated, never twice shy.  They’ll be back.  They always come back.  That’s the lesson everyone must remember.

It’s remarkable this is a story from two years ago and the facts have largely remained unchanged during this new go-around.  WRAL covered the issues well, and it’s ironic they’d be back two years later to cover the whole thing all over again.

Here’s a shocker.  When the city of Wilson’s Greenlight fiber optic system was getting prepared to go live, Time Warner began flooding customers with special deals and offers to keep their business, including Road Runner, as low as $24.95 a month for two years, good only in the Wilson/Goldsboro service area of course.  Road Runner customers were also offered double their existing speeds if they agreed to lock into a two year contract (making a switch to Greenlight prohibitively costly with early cancellation penalties).  That offer wasn’t available to residents in nearby Raleigh, according to Brian Bowman, Public Affairs Manager of Wilson, a claim Time Warner disputes.

Needless to say, both sides claim they welcome competition, but only one of them is being honest about it.  You can guess which.

Well-balanced.  WRAL seems to be consistently producing excellent reports on this issue, always remembering to provide time for both sides.  Good journalism.