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Colorado Town Offers 1 Gbps For $60 After Years Of Battling Comcast


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2019 Sep 18, 5:41pm   414 views  2 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (55)   💰tip   ignore  

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20190904/08392642916/colorado-town-offers-1-gbps-60-after-years-battling-comcast.shtml

Tue, Sep 17th 2019 3:45am — Karl Bode
A new community broadband network went live in Fort Collins, Colorado recently offering locals there gigabit fiber speeds for $60 a month with no caps, restrictions, or hidden fees. The network launch comes years after telecom giants like Comcast worked tirelessly to crush the effort. Voters approved the effort as part of a November 2017 ballot initiative, despite the telecom industry spending nearly $1 million on misleading ads to try and derail the effort. A study (pdf) by the Institute for Local Reliance estimated that actual competition in the town was likely to cost Comcast between $5.4 million and $22.8 million each year.

Unlike private operations, the Fort Collins Connexion network pledges to adhere to net neutrality. ...

For years we've noted how large ISPs like Comcast quite literally write and buy protectionist state laws preventing towns and cities from building their own broadband networks (or striking public/private partnerships). These ISPs don't want to spend money to improve or expand service into lower ROI areas, but they don't want towns and cities to either -- since many of these networks operate on an open access model encouraging a little something known as competition. As such it's much cheaper to buy a state law and a lawmaker who'll support it -- than to actually try and give a damn.

And while roughly nineteen states have passed such laws, Colorado's SB 152, co-crafted by Comcast and Centurylink in 2005, was notably unique in that it let local towns and cities hold local referendums on whether they'd like to ignore it. And over the last few years, an overwhelming number of Colorado towns and cities have voted to do so, preferring to decide local infrastructure issues for themselves instead of having lobbyists for Comcast dictate what they can or can't do in their own communities, with their own tax dollars.

There's probably not a day that goes by without these companies regretting letting that caveat make it into the final bill.


Comments 1 - 2 of 2        Search these comments

1   RC2006   2019 Sep 18, 7:03pm  

Maybe more cities will follow.
2   ForcedTQ   2019 Sep 18, 7:55pm  

CMCSA is up to $47.00 a share, from $34.37 at the beginning of this year. These mofos don’t give a rat’s ass who they steamroll to profit giganticly.

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