Austin should do this to screw over Time Warner Cable! (Wilson: prices, bills)

[alan777]

Greenlight: Cable, Internet, and Phone Services for Wilson, North Carolina

Time Warner Cable Won't Compete, Seeks Legislation



narramissic writes "The good people of Wilson, NC pay $99/month for 10/10 Mbps internet service, 81 TV channels and telephone service. How'd they manage that, you ask? Well, the city-owned and operated cable service called Greenlight came into being when the City of Wilson approached TWC and local DSL provider Embarq and requested faster service for the area. 'TWC refused the request. And so Greenlight was born,' says blogger Peter Smith. 'Now Time Warner Cable and Embarq are upset that they've got competition, and rather than try to go head to head with Greenlight on price and service, they've instead been lobbying the state government of NC to pass laws to put Greenlight out of business. Apparently they're having some success, as the NC State Senate has proposed bills that would do TWC's bidding.'"

Slashdot | Time Warner Cable Won't Compete, Seeks Legislation

This is what Austin should do to fight the non-competitive nature of Time Warner Cable. Fight the corporate power!

I figure it fits with the high tech nature of Austin and the "Don't Tread on Me" attitude of Texas.

[jobert]

It's expensive to have stuff you don't need.

[Latsabb]

Time Warner Cable has competition here though, mainly being AT&T, but there are a few others as well. I am not sure what you idea for Austin would be.

[alan777]

Your both missing the point. They made high speed internet a public utility forcing TWC into competition. This would even force AT&T into more competition as it would drive prices down potentially. It is just an idea. It seems to have worked in other areas.

[Latsabb]

But my point is that since Time Warner already has a few competitors here, I don't think it will make a big difference, or any at all. I would assume that the place(s) that it has worked were not serviced by anyone but Time Warner.

Anyway, even if they kick up the max speed to 10mbits, it wont really matter. That is the MAX speed, but they will still cap your download way below that.

[hoffdano]

I am not a fan of TWC but they have competition in most of Austin for both internet and TV. Satellite TV from Direct TV and Dish Network, internet from AT&T (DSL and FIOS growing), and Verizon.

I don't really have any confidence the city of Austin could establish an internet and TV service and run it efficiently. More likely it would be inefficient and the taxpayers of Austin would foot the bill.

All city taxpayers would have to pay for a service they might prefer to obtain from other sources.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by alan777

[url="http://www.greenlightnc.com/"]Austin should do this to screw over Time Warner Cable!

We are not looking to screw over anyone.... yet. We want good reliable services at a reasonable price.

If they screw us over, then I'm pretty sure we will find a way to make them regret it.

"Don't mess with Texas".

[nomore07]

We still have Grande (in some areas)