The city of Bountiful, Utah voted to build a $48 million fiber network to provide affordable gigabit broadband for its residents and businesses. Regional internet providers Comcast and CenturyLink opposed the plan and tried to force a public vote through a taxpayer group they fund. However, communities often build their own networks because existing options are inadequate. Data shows that community-owned networks provide better, faster, cheaper service than monopolies. While big internet providers claim community networks are a boondoggle, they are just another business plan that often succeeds due to quality proposals and local accountability. Comcast and CenturyLink did not want to provide the high-speed internet Bountiful needed, but also tried to block the city from doing so itself.
You love to see it. Do you have community Internet available where you live?
In a sane country, the mere attempt at blocking the establishment of a competitor would have been grounds for a Ma Bell-style dissection of both companies.
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Well good on ‘em.
Nothing better than empowering local communities.
My area is stuck with the illusion of choice between Comcast cable and AT&T DSL.
That’s wonderful news for Bountiful. Quite a $48m middle finger to these monopolies.
Can’t believe someone living in US got stuck with DSL while my parents who live in a village in Sumatra actually got fiber optic service. Your area got a worse deal than a village in a third world country. Why aren’t you guys revolting?
I know, it’s pathetic. AT&T holding a steady $40-45/mo while Comcast increases every year.
Vast swathes of the USA have either DSL or cellular as their only options. It’s a big country.
So is Indonesia, 3,181mi x 1,094mi (vs US continental 2,802mi x 1,650mi), and split into multiple large landmass too, which requires extensive sea cable network. Yet they managed to build extensive fiber optics coverage in the past 10 years.
My area got super lucky. The VAST majority of the metro area I’m in is dominated by one for profit electric co and 2 for profit “big name” ISPs that have barely implemented fiber. I was forced to use one of them and got 3Mbps Down and 1Mbps up advertised DSL. I was generally lucky to see half of that.
I live just outside the metro center in a more rural area. We have an electric coop that is extremely affordable. When the federal gov pushed out millions in broadband grants, the coop jumped on it. Built out a massive fiber core and buried all the fiber they could. What they couldn’t bury, they ran on their electric poles. Now have symmetric gigabit fiber to the home and incredible local support.
Fuck major ISPs and their bullshit. They tried to block our coop and got told to eat shit.
This is the way. I want all places and all businesses to have healthy competitors. Businesses should not be allowed to acquire other businesses unless they have been operating in losses for at least 5 years. That’s how all this monopolistic bullshit will stop.
If you’re not careful, that’ll incentivize competing companies to collude with or acquire suppliers to drive up prices for competitors. I know that wasn’t the thought behind the suggestion, but there’s always someone there to break the spirit of the law, if not the word. And there’s always people breaking the word of the law.
Yeah figured there would be a way for corporate greed to fuck over any regulation. Can you think of any amendments to my proposition that would prevent this?
Huh. It’s tricky, isn’t it?
Suggestion: Business laws preclude collusion between competitive businesses. Result: “No, Senator, even though our companies sell the same items made in the same factories with the same SKUs, for the purposes of this conversation we target different markets even though our own sales data proves this isn’t the case.”
Suggestion: CEOs must sacrifice a child every time they make an acquisition. Result: “CEO of Globoco announces acquisition of struggling orphanage.”
Suggestion: Airtight laws that force everyone to play fair and pay their way. Result: Billionaires give handjobs to politicians and get the law neutered in return.
Or, just pay their executives more.
Good! The only reason I am able to have affordable fast internet is due to having 3 real high speed options: google fiber(5gb max), att fiber(2gb max), and spectrum(1gb max). If only one of those existed at my location I would bet I would have worse service at a higher price.
Sorry telcos! You lose, and suck, in that order.
They’ve been sucking for longer than they’ve been losing
That’s great news. I’m also glad to hear that Gigi Sohn has found her next project after being unfairly prevented from serving on the FCC.
We taxpayers built a municipal fiber to house broadband in Longmont Colorado. Stable service, one of the fastest in the nation and inexpensive.
I love it when a telecom asks me to"upgrade" to their service. It messes up their script when I ask them if they can beat 1 gig up and down for $45.
This is the way competition should work. Some things private companies do better, other things the government can do better. Let them hash it out in the market without loading the dice.
I am so envious of that down here in Boulder!!
Private ISPs could do it better if they weren’t largely all monopolies. The US average internet speed is a fraction of most other developed countries mostly because of them.
Some of the best internet in the world is in Romania, where just by pure chance it’s all private but with the government owning the last mile. That’s how it should be, companies are only effective if there is an effective market keeping them that way.
Monopolies should be busted, natural monopolies should be either state owned or very tightly regulated including the prices as there is no true price discovery when there is no competition.
They are very lucky to have this work out well for them. So many other communities are lucky to have broad support for infrastructure upgrades.
Classic example of attempted regulatory capture
A fitting name for a beautiful outcome.
I wish them bountiful data transfers without Telco trashiness.
Good for them.
