Small Town Triumphs in Legal Battle, Wins Right to Build Fiber Network
Posted 10/10/08 at 08:08:38 PM | by Pulkit Chandna
The small town of Monticello, Minnesota has emerged victorious in its legal battle against TDS Telecom. Unimpressed by the DSL and cable services being offered by TDS Telecom, the town with a population of 10,000 people decided to build a fiber network on its own.
But this riled up the telecom company’s feathers. TDS quickly adopted a browbeating approach and filed a suit against the town over the proposed fiber network. The company argued that revenue bonds can not be used for something – broadband internet – that isn’t actually a “utility”.
The court has dismissed TDS’ suit. The Judge said that the town has full authority to fund the project with bonds (worth $26.4 million).
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Not the first town to do this
Submitted by arkweld on Sun, 2008-10-12 17:13
Wilson, NC built their own fiber network because TWC cannot be bothered to upgrade their infrastructure because they have no competition in NC to force them to do so. They basically suck.
They now have full fiber TV service with more HD than TW can dream of in our area and broadband speeds up to 100Mbps. Their cheapest deal is $35 and offers 10Mbps AND down!
http://www.greenlightnc.com/home/internet/
Cool. Wish my town would do
Submitted by Wildebeast on Fri, 2008-10-10 22:01
Cool. Wish my town would do this.
*As long as the town's not paying "Pentagon prices" for the installation or cabling ---and as long as quantum cabling [or something else better] doesn't come into common use in 3 years.
If the local broadband provider(s) had been providing service at better prices, it would not have made good economic sense for the city to do this, at all.
Well....
Submitted by maniacm0nk3y on Fri, 2008-10-10 23:05
All we have is TDS or Charter with max of 5mb/s. TDS is low-quality and Charter is OK. My friend had Charter 5mb and said it was avg, for the amount of time he has been using it. Price isn't that bad for the fiber install, in my opinion. We are expanding and have a lot of new businesses moving in, along our main highway going across the length of town. Businesses would probably adapt to this. Is all. (For now)
Submitted by Jason Hopkins on Fri, 2008-10-10 19:18
Wow, very nice. Now only if more towns start doing this.
Submitted by maniacm0nk3y on Fri, 2008-10-10 18:21
This is awesome that my hometown has been featured as part of a story. Thanks MaximumPC. It has been pretty troublesome with TDS. My family actually uses it, only because it's the closest service, and cheapest (i think). It is sh1t. The town actually started installing the fiber a little into summer, and are getting closer to the outskirts of town. Soon we will be a part of a small group of cities with city-wide fiber access (in the nation).
Submitted by billysundays on Fri, 2008-10-10 18:35
oh man, i'm so jealous, not only over your fiber optic, but that you've kicked a cable company in the face, IN THE FACE!!!
I posted a rant recently about comcast, if you want to check it out. Down with TDS, down with Comcast!!
Submitted by dstevens on Sat, 2008-10-11 17:18
oh noes the people stood up for themselves.. LETS SUE THEM!!! GIANT STFU stamp for all the ISP's in the world with this one... about time someone said im not dealing with the crap that imgiven and did somthing kudos to them. and kudos to the legal system for saying were sorry if your ass hurts from being overstuffed with money heres some preperation H.
Submitted by maniacm0nk3y on Fri, 2008-10-10 23:07
Nice. Both on the comment and on the rant. That's the only thing nice, it seems, to get out of smalltime TDS. At least I think they don't have a cap. As I said in a previous article response, my only trouble is downloading my games from Steam after a fresh install.
Submitted by billysundays on Fri, 2008-10-10 18:15
now this is a great article to end the week. big ol' smile.
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