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The Republican-dominated North Carolina State Assembly this week approved a bill that would prohibit communities from upgrading their internet access, forcing individual municipalities into a private monopoly of managed broadband services by companies like Time Warner and Comcast.

Both firms have been restricting the amount of bandwidth users can consume, even though bandwidth itself is not a tangible, meter-able commodity.

The bill, which was heavily supported by telecom giant Time Warner, comes on the heels of several communities successfully launching their own fiber-optic broadband programs. One program in Wilson, North Carolina, called Greenlight, even features speeds up to 100 Megabits-per-second (Mbps) at a lower price than its corporate competitors.

That's because Greenlight is a public utility, instead of a profits-making scheme, that places access and quality of service above harvesting dollars off customers. Instead of focusing on margins or how to impose fees on metered bandwidth use, they're able to focus on simply providing the best the Internet has to offer.

Prior to the arrival of Greenlight, most Internet users in Wilson only had access to 7 Mbps speeds, at a much higher price than the public utility's plans. For about the same price as the slower connection, Greenlight users get access to 20 Mbps speeds, with options to upgrade to 100M for about $150 a month.

However, in a Monday night vote, North Carolina assemblymen voted 81-37 to bring that to a halt, banning any other communities from upgrading their own connections and forcing them to continue patronizing private providers.

Currently-existing community broadband services like Greenlight, which five North Carolina communities have already set up, would not be affected should the bill clear the state senate.

The cities of Asheville, Bladenboro and Momeyer have all passed resolutions condemning the statewide bill.
Proponents of the broadband restrictions claim municipalities should not be able to borrow money to build networks without explicit voter approval. They also want the restrictions passed to prevent groups like Greenlight from providing service below what it costs, using money from other public utilities to cover the income gap.

North Carolina's broadband limitation bill now moves on to the state senate.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/30/north-carolina-bill-would-prohibit-cities-from-upgrading-internet-access/

:face:
 
F'ing NC legislature. I live in Charlotte and this just pisses me off. I pay a fortune for my connection and it's only a 3mb which is just enough for Netflix, but forget downloading anything else while you're streaming a movie.

6mb is almost double the price I pay now, and I use old Ma'Bell, now ATT, which I find commical also. It always amazes me that no matter what side of the isle these polititcians are one, most of them are motiviated by greed and filling their own pockets with money. I find this simply disgusting.

Let's not even talk about the bandwidth limitations. I'm supposed to get 3mb, yeah right. I'm lucky to get a 250k connection when downloading digital content.

I really do think that the Internet and telephone, as well as cell phone services should all become a public utility. These are all so much part of our lives, they are a "utility" for all intetns and purposes, except price.

Let's not even talk about the bullhocky of trying to get a new phone, before you upgrade date, even if the upgrade date is only 30 days away. My wife's phone is crapping out and I need to get her a new one, no dice. I have to wait. Well I can upgrade at full price, yeah right.

....I better stop typing before I get really steamed.
 
First thing they need to do is get rid of the geographical monopolies across the board. Time Warner, Charter and any one else should be allowed to compete in EVERY geographical location. Same with the phone companies. It's really pathetic that it's cheaper for me to use my cellphone for internet access and phone use than to use the phone company for the same services.

Make them all compete across the board and watch the services and prices drop. As it is we lag behind in internet access and speeds to much of the civilized world.
 
I have found if you vote democrat you get told what to do, if you vote republican you get munipulated into doing what they want you to do. We are screwed either way. Its all about the money to them
 
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