10 ms·
TN Could Give Fastest Internet for Free, Will Give Comcast and AT&T $45M Instead
- exabrial 9y agoAre there are build-out guarantees on the contract? I'd love to see the companies be sued once they fail to deliver.
- paulddraper 9y agoThat's....sadistic.
- ceejayoz 9y agoWhy is it sadistic to expect a corporation to fulfill their promises?
- paulddraper 9y agoIt's not. The parent is expecting them not to, so he can enjoy the lawsuit that follows.
- gech 9y ago>"I'd love to see the companies be sued once they fail to deliver." You've misinterpreted. It's quite reasonable based on history to expect them not to deliver. It's also quite reasonable to feel good about justice when it is so short in delivery to bad actors these days. Also, sadism by definition applies to living beings, not corporations.
- paulddraper 9y ago"corporation" literally means "body" or "person"
- ceejayoz 9y ago> The parent is expecting them not to... A fair expectation, given telcom promise history.
- clamstar 9y agoIt happened with Verizon in NYC. AFAIK the suit is ongoing.
- Eric_WVGG 9y agoThe lawsuit was formally filed four weeks ago. I've anecdotally heard that Verizon is scrambling to restart fiber deployment in order to save face.
- Karunamon 9y agoOften doesn't happen. They'll just promise to deliver, not do it, and then wheedle their way around the penalties. Already this is playing out in New York: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/09/nyc-threatens-to-sue-verizon-over-fios-shortfalls/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/09/nyc-threatens-to...
- bogomipz 9y agoThis is playing out right now in New York City with Verizon FIOS: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/nyregion/ny-sues-verizon-fios.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/nyregion/ny-sues-verizon-...
- rayiner 9y agoThe difference was that New York never paid Verizon anything (indeed, Verizon paid New York millions of dollars for the right to enter the market at all).
- bogomipz 9y agoNew York City granted Verizon a franchise agreement as this would provide a needed source of revenue to the city. See page 26. So not only did the city lose out on revenue but this also represents an opportunity cost for the city as they could have granted a fiber franchise(an obtained full revenue) from someone else. 10. FRANCHISE FEES 10.1. Payment to City: Franchisee shall pay to the City a Franchise Fee of five percent (5%) of annual Gross Revenue (the “Franchise Fee”). https://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/verizon_nyc_franchise_agreement_approved_by_fcrc.pdf https://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/verizon...
- rayiner 9y agoThere is no out-of-pocket cost, because the city is not paying anything. Verizon is putting up all the capital. There is also no opportunity cost, because the franchise is non-exclusive: 4.3. Grant Not Exclusive: The Franchise and the rights granted herein to use and occupy the Public Rights-of-Way to provide Cable Services shall not be exclusive, and the City reserves the right to grant other franchises for similar uses or for other uses of the Public Rights of-Way, or any portions thereof, to any Person, or to make any such use itself, at any time during the term of this Franchise. Any such rights which are granted shall not adversely impact the authority as granted under law or this Franchise to provide Cable Service.
- 9y ago
- misc213 9y agoWell, in future years they'll be able to generate additional economic activity by having to go back and install another new network.
- inetknght 9y agoyou assume that the legal framework would be there for that to actually happen
- saboot 9y agoHere in Knoxville I see billboards welcoming Gig-Speed internet by Comcast. It costs something like $300/mo with a two year contract and some ridiculous $2000 or so installation price. Gee, thanks?
- homero 9y agoDon't forget the caps
- strictnein 9y agoNo caps on the gigabit service, if you sign a contract.
- nerdywordy 9y agoFellow Knoxville TN resident here. It's been really sad (but most certainly not surprising) to see law makers be influenced by Comcast/ATT. Comcast's recent Gig advertising around here is almost laughable. We've called in to discuss upgrading but their sales and support are clueless. Side note: As I was trying to comment on this my business class Comcast connection dropped. Go figure.
- Xcelerate 9y agoAlso a Knoxville resident. I asked Comcast about the gigabit pricing and $300 sounded about right. That's absurdly high. I really wish Knoxville would copy Chattanooga and run its own ISP.
- saboot 9y agoOur city council has stated clearly that Comcast is "just fine"!
- aNapierkowski 9y agoI would love for articles to start giving names of state legislators that voted to pass the bill being reported on. This would make it much easier for voters in these areas to know who's voting for what. I guess it probably is more work than is beneficial for the journalists?
- stevenwoo 9y agohttp://nooga.com/175741/bill-to-increase-high-speed-internet-access-for-rural-residents-heads-to-haslam/ http://nooga.com/175741/bill-to-increase-high-speed-internet... It was almost unanimous. This coverage talks about it in a totally different way.
- strictnein 9y agoYeah, I've started to eye Vice articles with more and more suspicion, and this is another example of why. There's a lot more playing out here than implied by the Vice story. The headline is especially egregious and inaccurate.
- dtparr 9y agoYeah, reading the bill (http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HB0529 http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNu...), it seems pretty apparent that it's actually a step in the right direction, opening things up for co-ops and making money available to anyone willing to build out to under-served areas, not a handout directly to incumbent ISPs. Would I have liked for it to have included the city and municipal entities too, sure, but one thing at a time.
- match 9y agohttps://legiscan.com/TN/rollcall/SB1215/id/622577 https://legiscan.com/TN/rollcall/SB1215/id/622577
- aNapierkowski 9y agoThanks, didn't know that site existed.
- evv 9y agoWhy is anybody surprised? This is a classic telco playbook: - Promise awesome infrastructure - Lobby to get taxpayers to pay for it - Refuse to deliver, without recourse - Profit!!!
- tgb 9y agoThe title seems misleading: the alternative is not free internet, but internet expanded out to the suburban/rural areas for free, which then charges customers for access. This is in comparison to paying commercial companies to expand to those areas. It's really just less expensive, not free.
- fnovd 9y agoEPB wants to build the infrastructure for free. There would still be a monthly cost to use the infrastructure. With Comcast, it's the worst of both worlds.
- walkon 9y agoHow can the infrastructure be built for free? Volunteer labor and donated capital?
- 9y ago
- bkmartin 9y agoOther than voting out members of congress... is there any legal action that can be taken against the lawmakers for such a brazen act that goes so strongly against the good of the people? When the math is so cut and dry, are they no longer upholding their oath? Any lawsuit to file or impeachment proceedings? What can a citizen do when a large group of legislators does something so financially irresponsible for their people?
- bkohlmann 9y agoA small but important point - this was an act of the state legislature, not Congress. That said, The voters of TN should absolutely hold their elected officials accountable.
- bkmartin 9y agoThat is what I meant, wrong words though.
- saboot 9y agoI am a TN resident. While my purple state district resembles a hairy amoeba reaching out into deep red areas, there will be no accountability. They won't expand Medicaid, are in the process of out sourcing many state jobs (parks, university) and will continue to stick it to working families. Many of those who would receive help are most concerned in making sure there's still someone else in a worse situation than themselves.
- toomuchtodo 9y agoThis is how violent revolutions start. Its as if no one knows history.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- mschip 9y ago> Many of those who would receive help are most concerned in making sure there's still someone else in a worse situation than themselves. This sums up the majority of rural republicans in my area. It's a sad realization that people so often put not being at the bottom above their own best interests.
- dvdhnt 9y agoChattanooga resident here. I was living downtown and had EPB. Not only are their speeds fantastic and prices quite reasonable, their customer service is amazing. We recently moved right outside of their coverage area and are forced to use Comcast. The bill is higher, speeds slower, and customer service nonexistent.
- thomastjeffery 9y ago> customer service nonexistent. s/nonexistent/abusive/ Their customer abuse is prolific.
- djschnei 9y agoWhat exactly is a municipal private loan that doesn't cost tax payers anything?
- micah_chatt 9y agoFor reference, with EPB 100M is $60/mo, 1G is $70/mo, and 10G is $300/mo. EPB is hugely popular here in Chattanooga, not just because of the internet speeds, but for stellar customer service. Install of fiber internet: free. Don't want internet for a month: no contract, no penalty. Have a problem and need to talk to someone: Call in 24/7 and talk to a human right away.
- rb808 9y agoI really like the idea of a local utility that provides both last mile power and fiber internet. Looks like Chattanooga has been very well run to get this organized well. I am a little reluctant to say that every city should have a publicly owned utility to run its infrastructure but compared the alternatives it does look preferable.
- dtparr 9y agoReading the actual bill [0], this coverage seems slanted. The bill specifically allows rural electric and phone co-ops to offer broadband, and also says that they can provide it outside their service area as long as they get the permission of the municipal/co-op who does service that area. Also, the grants are not specifically to Comcast/AT&T, or even just to private businesses. From the text of the bill, the grants have to be able to go to: "political subdivisions or entities of political subdivisions, corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, or other business entities that provide broadband services; cooperatives organized under the Rural Electric and Community Services Cooperative Act or the Telephone Cooperative Act, and any other entity authorized by state law to provide broadband services." While I'm all for freeing EPB to do their thing wherever they can, this article seems to be slanting things more than a bit. [0]-http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HB0529 http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNu...
- thomastjeffery 9y agoWhile the law may allow for ISPs other than Comcast/AT&T, is that actually going to happen?
- dtparr 9y agoActually, probably. My parents are in very rural TN, and they get their telephone and internet from a rural co-op [0]. A few years back, that co-op got a grant (though, federal I think) to roll out fiber, which blew everyone's mind. They can get up to a 100/100 internet package for $130/mo now after having been stuck on dial-up well into the 2010s. It's not going to do anything for cities, but there are alot of people who don't live in major cities. It's all the areas outside that that have no broadband of any sort that this bill is helping. Check out http://www.tnelectric.org/members/ http://www.tnelectric.org/members/ for a map showing all the land areas served by electric co-ops who would now be able to provide internet and apply for grants, and that's not including places that have telecom co-ops for their internet but get power via a city/county organization. [0] - http://wktelecom.coop/ http://wktelecom.coop/
- flour_power 9y ago
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- cckumarr 9y agothe article ends with "exact definition of crony capitalism" noice!!
- btrautsc 9y agoI live here. EPB is amazing. This is infuriating.