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Saturday, September 13th, 2014

How Big Telecom Smothers City-run Broadband

Author:     ALLAN HOLMES
Source:     The Center for Public Integrity
Publication Date:     5:00 am, August 28, 2014
 Link: How Big Telecom Smothers City-run Broadband
Stephan:   This is why the U.S. has second rate internet. Third rate compared to countries like Korea. This is a classic monopolist move to block competition and keep prices high and service poor. Only citizen action is going to stop this. You need to get involved. It's just that simple, we all need to get involved. Only 57,1% of Americans voted in the last Presidential and that was one of the largest percentages in years. That means in our best years over 42% of those eligible don't vote.
The 400-acre Coffee County Joint Industrial Park, outside Tullahoma, Tennessee, struggles to attract businesses without high speed internet. Allan Holmes/Center for Public Integrity

The 400-acre Coffee County Joint Industrial Park, outside Tullahoma, Tennessee, struggles to attract businesses without high speed internet. Allan Holmes/Center for Public Integrity

Janice Bowling, a 67-year-old grandmother and Republican state senator from rural Tennessee, thought it only made sense that the city of Tullahoma be able to offer its local high-speed Internet service to areas beyond the city limits.

After all, many of her rural constituents had slow service or did not have access to commercial providers, like AT&T Inc. and Charter Communications Inc.

But a 1999 Tennessee law prohibits cities that operate their own Internet networks from providing access outside the boundaries where they provide electrical service. Bowling wanted to change that and introduced a bill in February to allow them to expand.

She viewed the network, which offers speeds about 80 times faster than AT&T and 10 times faster than Charter in Tullahoma according to advertised services, as a utility, like electricity, that all […]

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