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.

As we entered the second week of the public firestorm against Time Warner’s broadband usage cap nightmare, the enormous pushback began to make an impact.  Time Warner’s two Texas systems, in Austin and San Antonio, finally decided to back off from the tier experiment for the summer.  This came before the eventual “suspension” of the tier experiment late last week, but for San Antonio, it provided a glimpse of hope that customer reaction would make a difference.

Congressman Eric Massa’s proposed Broadband Internet Fairness Act helped drum up sufficient attention to the issue of usage caps, it helped postpone them, at least in some areas.

One of the reasons these stories recapping and documenting this entire Internet rationing debacle is important is to come to understand Time Warner’s strategy in trying to implement usage caps.  It was largely the same talking points wherever you went among the four impacted communities, and the reaction from customers was also always the same – outrage.

Local governments also rapidly learned they had their own problem – a complete inability to force the company to do what’s right for customers.  In fact, communities that experienced this experiment, which is likely to return at some point in the near future, should begin contemplating competitive alternatives starting today, and not wait for the next hammer to fall on residential and business customers the next time Time Warner wants to drop a tiered billing system with extremely high overlimit fees on the towns and cities it serves.

KVUE presented a well-balanced story here, and it was a news leader, complete with a live stand-up shot in front of Austin’s City Hall.

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.