Is Cheap Broadband Un-American?

[chomskyite_naderite]

Is Cheap Broadband Un-American?

by Tim Karr

published by Media Citizen

Is Cheap Broadband Un-American?

We have Big Media to thank for saving Americans from themselves. Just as the notion of affordable broadband for all was beginning to take hold in towns and cities across the country, the patriots at Verizon, Qwest, Comcast, Bell South and SBC Communications have created legislation that will stop the “red menace” of community internet before it invades our homes.

And to think that Americans might want to receive high-speed access at costs below the monopoly rates set by these few Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

Today, monthly broadband packages offered by the national carriers hover above $50, barring access to millions of Americans who can’t afford the sticker price. Cities and towns across the country have taken up the task of building a cheaper alternative -- often choosing easy-to-build wireless mesh networks -- to bridge the gap that has kept many on the darker side of the digital divide. Telecommunications giants have mobilized a well-funded army of coin-operated think tanks, pliant legislators and lazy journalists to protect their Internet fiefdoms from these municipal internet initiatives, painting them as an affront to American innovation and free enterprise.

Their weapon of choice is industry-crafted legislation that restricts local governments from offering public service Internet access at reasonable rates. Laws are already on the books in a dozen states. This year alone, 10 states are considering similar bills to block public broadband or to strengthen existing restrictions.Spinning broadband as theirs alone to provide, ISPs have chalked up some early victories—including a draconian law now on the books in Pennsylvania, which strips local governments of the right to choose their own homegrown broadband solutions without the prior approval of a monopoly phone company. In late 2004, Verizon dictated the law word-for-word to local legislators, who then quietly slipped it into the middle of a 72-page bill that appeared to call for improved communications infrastructure for all Pennsylvanians.

....


read the rest here:
http://progressivetrail.org/articles/050413Karr.shtml

[unhappycamper]

1. Thank God I'm an American! $61/month for Comcast in Boston.

My alternative is dial up. The local phone company guarantees I can talk on the line - not my computer. The last few years I had dial up, my best connection speed was about 21K BPS.

[shadowknows69]

2. 50 a month for tme warner road runner.

cheap broadband huh.

[unhappycamper]

4. I'm more American than you are. n/t

[oc2002]

3. if the squeeze on the middle class keeps going, who will pay for it..

??

Things will get grimm in the near future, and luxuries like these will be gone.

[phusion]

5. I'll be moving into a new place this summer...

My friend already lives there and has worked out an arrangement with his neighbors. There are about 4 households sharing one broadband wireless connection. Between 4 houses splitting the cost it works out to about $15/ea/mo.

So, if these broadband companies get their way, there's nothing stopping agreements w/ neighbors to cut down costs.

Just an idea...