Time Warner Working to Shut Down Local Providers of Affordable Broadband
Posted 04/23/09 at 05:28:29 PM by Andy Salisbury
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Well, it looks Time Warner’s bad streak is far from over – it wouldn’t just end with their undeserved feeling of superiority. In the small city of Wilson, North Carolina, they’re working to destroy local Internet providers, just so that they can inject their own overpriced offering.
Available today in Wilson, NC, you can get expanded basic cable with 81 channels, 10Mbps (download and upload) Internet service, and digital phone service with unlimited long distance to the U.S. and Canada for $99.95. A similar package from Time Warner comes with six less channels, lower upload speeds and costs $137.95 as an introductory rate (which will no doubt skyrocket after a few months). But now, with some help from the North Carolina State Senate, Time Warner is working a bill that will potentially cripple or ban local service, and even prevent local services from getting any funds from the broadband portion of the stimulus package.
In response, the city has spoken out big time against the move, creating a blog that’s pushing for the state government to prevent the bill. Brian Bowman, Wilson’s Public Affairs Manager writes, “I have a 10Mbps up/down connection at my house. Can’t get half that from the cable company. I buy it directly from the City of Wilson. After less than a year of residential service, almost 3,000 Wilson citizens are subscribing to Wilson’s fiber optic network. Local businesses can get up to one Gbps.” He continues, “Bottom line, these companies are using your state lawmakers to protect monopolies. It was wrong in 2007 when a similar bill died in the house and it’s wrong today.”
Honestly, Time Warner. Have you no shreds of decency? This is genuinely despicable behavior.
Image Credt: Time Warner Cable
If you disagree with a company..
Submitted by Rascal69_1999 on Tue, 05/05/2009 - 8:09am
Don't use thier service even if its the only company providing the service. that would be what I would do b/c if you give them your money they win. that is what they want. and in turn your reward their behavior.
Seems it's not just TW and
Submitted by OvenMaster on Mon, 05/04/2009 - 7:59pm
Seems it's not just TW and North Carolina.
I live in MA. My city-owned electric utility put fiber up on every single pole in town, planning for fiber optic internet, telephone, television service at dirt-cheap prices. This was ten years ago(!), and the minute they were ready to throw the switch, Comcast b*tched about it, and everything screeched to a halt. The result is that the electric company's sole offering is $20/month dialup accounts!
Who the h*ll still pays $20/month for dialup?
Submitted by colinjm0517 on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 4:30pm
I think that the government should step in and tell them "YOU CANNOT CHARGE THE RATES YOU ARE CHARGING, THE BANDWITH CAPS ARE ILLEGAL, AND THESE INDUCTORY RATES ARE ILLEGAL AS WELL, AND ELIMINATING THE COMPETITION IS ALSO ILLEGAL, but alas, the government is too wimpy to do this. These companies should be slapped with lawsuits and fines
Submitted by Spider-Mom on Sun, 04/26/2009 - 1:36pm
instead of getting big brother to do everythign for your worthless arse why dont you get off it and VOTE. Your truly patehtic and ppl like you dont deserve internets.
Submitted by colinjm0517 on Mon, 05/11/2009 - 6:44pm
I CANNOT VOTE. I AM NOT 18. and btw, SHUT UP Spider-Mom
Macs can be PCs and PCs can be Macs
Submitted by sedwards on Wed, 05/06/2009 - 7:26am
umm spider-mom you're making a lot of ASSumptions on that. how do you know he hasn't voted in every single election since he was legally of age to do so? or that he is too young to be able to legally vote at all? Also voting only works to get what you think should be done if you agree with the majority that is voting. Even if i vote it doesn't mean that what I think should be done will be. so it is you that is ignorant and truly pathetic and ppl like you dont deserve internets. i actually really hope that this one was an isolated incident because otherwise based on that I would ask that you no longer use a name referncing one of my fav comic book characters. spider-man has higher standards ;)
it doesnt help when the only people we really have to vote for are being funded by these huge companies and so their loyalties lie with them most of the time and not with who voted for them. voting doesn't always work.
please don't feed the
Submitted by nekollx on Wed, 05/06/2009 - 8:35am
please don't feed the trolls, Spider-Mom has proven numerous tims to be a close minded biggot.
I've stoped even thinking about reading her posts.
Voting won't always work, if
Submitted by dag1992 on Sun, 04/26/2009 - 3:59pm
Voting won't always work, if it were up to me, we'd have Ron Paul in office right now. Either way, lets try and not rant here, shall we?
Submitted by colinjm0517 on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 4:19pm
At this point, I think that people should boycott Time Warner Cable and all of it's other companies formed from it, and force them to charge lower rates, get rid of bandwidth caps, and stop them from getting rid of the competition. If they continue to be the way they are, they should be shutdown like the original Napster.
Boycotting Time Warner would
Submitted by Wareagle on Sat, 04/25/2009 - 6:48pm
Boycotting Time Warner would be nice if you had the option.
Sometimes your choices are Time Warner or much slower DSL, or none at all.
Submitted by colinjm0517 on Mon, 05/11/2009 - 6:45pm
DSL isn't that bad, it's faster than the cable where I live.
Macs can be PCs and PCs can be Macs
Submitted by sallystudios on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 9:14am
Monopolies are definately NOT illegal in the United States. Where do you get your power from? A monopoly. Who gives you water? A monopolized water company. Trash pickup?
What is illegal is unfair market competition.
Submitted by Kaasiim on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 7:40am
Why is this going on?
We have millions of people in this country that are beyond fed up with the B.S. that these big cable/communications companies are forcing upon us.
We are all speaking about taking a stand and doing something about this.
Why the hell is it NOT happening? I know nothing about demanding a bill reform, or a change in... whatever it is that the government has in place to allow these monopoly's to continue, but surely someone thats tired of this crap does! Why isnt someone doing something about this, and why after all this time of hearing the complaints of the provider's outrageous behaivor has none of the government officals done anything of any real impact? Oh yeah, one win here, another small win there, but nothing substancial.
I'm sure TW cried a huge river when their capped bandwith test got slapped down recently, but they didnt cry enough that they didnt enjoy cashing in the few million dollars that they made THAT SAME DAY.Maybe i should just kill off what little free time I have and learn what needs to be done to get the congressmen, senators, so-on and so-forth off their asses and do something about this once and for all, but I for one would very much appreciate it if someone else that already knew how to do it did it for me. It would save us all a hell of a lot of time.
* Just a small heads up for what few (if any) politicans read this; what big content and communication providers are doing IS ILLEGAL and if it's obvious to a regular joe like me then its gotta be obvious to a trained professional like you. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! *
Submitted by DogPatch1149 on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 6:11am
This must be part of that "customer education" TWC referred to when they put the bandwidth cap plan on hold.
Greedy bastards. I always thought Comcast was the bottom of the dung heap...guess I was wrong.
Good luck, City of Wilson - kick their sorry asses six ways from Sunday.
This is a completely
Submitted by Geeksquadmyss on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 4:37am
This is a completely different problem than wal-mart. Plus i always found it ironic that the people who complained about wal mart also shop there!
Anyway this Time Warner thing needs to be squashed and, the government needs to do away with all of the agreesments that allow cable companies to split up states and control competition.
Submitted by Kicknpost on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 3:20am
Well it is not like we havent seen this before, Walmart oooops Time Warner has done this in every community it has ever been in.
Submitted by MAJORzer0 on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 11:17pm
It worked before... We should all step out aginst our big corperate ISP's and make the government do something about all this BS. I see this and I wonder why doesn't the rest of the US have 10mb up and down... Seriously we should be up to par on all of this except new houses and out of the way places that are impossible to get to. I say use the bill to lay fiber and tell the companies to get on the ball or get a new job because they're not doing it right in the first place. Most of the big cable companies don't even have good service in the first place so why would any one bother with them? Because they hold all the strings in their area. Playing people like puppets. They've already got all our money I think it's time to step up and ask for real service. Instead of trying to oust the competition they should get off their lazy ass and compete. Provide us with what you owe us. It's been over 10 years and we're still stuck on all the same sh*t they started with. TWC is just the biggest example of greed and lethargy that describes the whole industry. They drag their feet because they have no competition to compete with. We should demand a change and not roll over and lets these pigs root more money from any of us.
Sorry but this has got to stop. We have to do something as a whole to get anything done or it's just not going to go any where. If we let them win this then they will just steam roll everything else and before too long we'll be back with capped bandwith and not have any other service to roll with.
~No one said it would be easy....they just said it was worth it...~
Submitted by Computer Whiz on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 7:07pm
Does anyone know where I can download Windows 7 BETA?
Sorry for posting on this article, I wanted someone to read this.
Submitted by colinjm0517 on Mon, 05/11/2009 - 6:49pm
skip the beta, go for the public RC on Microsoft.com
Macs can be PCs and PCs can be Macs
Submitted by colinjm0517 on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 4:33pm
Youre going to have to look for windows 7 build 7022, 7048, or 7106 (RU-EN) on google. look for the torrent and download it. then use a windows 7 beta 1 key to use it.
Submitted by Computer Whiz on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 7:07pm
Does anyone know where I can download Windows 7 BETA?
Sorry for posting on this article, I wanted someone to read this.
Submitted by Computer Whiz on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 7:07pm
Does anyone know where I can download Windows 7 BETA?
Sorry for posting on this article, I wanted someone to read this.
Submitted by Computer Whiz on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 7:06pm
Does anyone know where I can download Windows 7 BETA?
Sorry for posting on this article, I wanted someone to read this.
The Win 7 beta is no longer
Submitted by I Jedi on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 8:13pm
The Win 7 beta is no longer open to the general public. There are other "means" by which to get Win 7, either through a friend or, dare I say it, TPB and other P2P traffics. Besides, you're a computer whiz, you should know where to find it. :P
Submitted by bcweir on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 6:41pm
This is a company that is trying to illegally extend their monopoly and that's bad for everbody
Submitted by Vegan on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 4:44pm
I'm surprised to hear that there's still places in America where you have a choice of provider.
Submitted by I Jedi on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 4:13pm
Wait a minute. Why are state senators helping TW become a monopoly? Maybe it doesn't seem like it to anyone else, but from my perspective, they're litterally killing all the business out there and totally taking the market over. Monopolies are SUPPOSE to be illegal in this country, as far as I knew. But, with the President now being able to fire CEO's of private companies, I guess the skies the limit.
Submitted by D3lt4 on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 4:20am
What does the CEO of a private company getting fired have to do with anything? Illogical argument...
Why else would the senators
Submitted by jcollins on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 5:13pm
Why else would the senators be helping TW? Because they're getting a ton of money from TW...
Submitted by I Jedi on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 8:09pm
But isn't that illegal as hell? I mean, that's almost like taking a bribe, but not actually saying, "Hey, look at me! I got money for helping TW out."
Submitted by D3lt4 on Fri, 04/24/2009 - 4:21am
Lobying is legal bribing, pretty fun, living in day and age when bribing has become legal.
Submitted by dag1992 on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 4:01pm
Thankfully here in Northern Virginia we don't have to worry about Time Warner. We have to deal with either a Cox monopoly or Comcast, and even right next to Washington DC we still have no FIOS. What's wrong with these companies?
Submitted by paschal on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 4:01pm
Apparantly the precedent has been set. If you have a large mega corp, and provided you have no morals nor any due dillegence that should ever be paid to customers in return for their money, "those pesky jerks", pretty obvious to follow the trend....do not worry about new business strategy, nor customer satisfaction.....it is so staring ya in the face....get the lobby guy to get ya in line with the people that matter, you will find them at the trough.
Submitted by paschal on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 3:47pm
Paschal
I do not mind being corrected if I make an error....but I believe the infrastructure for this project was something like $24 Million and I believe TWC's contribution was something like $0. I believe TWC would feel much better if the infrastructure was just handed over to them and then they could double the price. Well, they may not be able to run it cost effective, and then they would need a bailout...WT* is going on? Check this ISP (Greenlight) out folks.....20 MBS..Internet......Remember that is up AND down....phone with all features.....TV with ALL Premium services HB** CIN** SHO** ENC** ST***umpteen digital channels etc...$169.95.
Just when you thought you had read a story about government that was good, there is a bigger, corrupt government to kick that government in the A****.
The big question is why are Elected State Government Officials in NC using Time Warner Attorneys as consultants in a bill that cripples municipalities from being able to make their own cable/phone/internet choices?????WT*?? I seem to remember that municipalities made cable franchises happen in the first place....now it is turned 180 against local governments.
As someone who lives only
Submitted by Cache on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 3:05pm
As someone who lives only about 30 miles from Wilson, I can say there is NO love lost between the city and Time Warner. Frankly, I would be more than happy to see the state of NC get involved and review Time Warner's ability to do business in this state. Sure, they are my online and cable provider, but if Wilson can do it cheaper--there is no reason to think anyone else can't do it. And nothing would please me more than to see Time Warner get kicked in the nuts and left for dead in a back alley where it can't hurt another honest consumer ever again.
Submitted by steraes on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 2:56pm
Time Warner is trying to control the market. They don't care about the people. And without competition they can do whatever they want. It is not right. Something needs to be done about them. I don't live near Rochester, N.Y. and there is only one other "High Speed" service provider and that is Frontier DSL. There is no other competition. People like us get screwed over by this. When I lived in Syracuse, NY, there was more of a choice, but not in Rochester.
Submitted by ogremustcrush on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 2:47pm
Just as Time Warner "delayed" their plan to test out badwidth caps in cities that lacked broadband competition, they are now trying to reduce competiton through legislation in other markets. Their internet business strategy is becoming readily apparent, in order to protect their other video offerings, they want people to either become extremely adverse to web video due to the high costs from their caps, or they want people to pay even more for web video by paying for the overages in exchange for their lost revenue on video service. The whole scene just stinks of unregulated monopoly powers.
Submitted by nekollx on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 2:49pm
Bubba it's time ta' git out ma' gun, ya'all agree right?
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