U.S. Cities Look to Build Their Own Fiber Networks
David Curry | | Oct 21, 2014 08:11 AM EDT |
(Photo : Reuters ) Gigabyte Internet is fast becoming one of the most relevant topics in America; customers are fed up with their DSL-speed connection and the lack of investment or competition in their area.
A coalition of 32 cities has teamed up to help to create municipal broadband, and will look to fight telecoms and states in court, if they need to.
The Next Centuries Cities Coalition has more opportunities to succeed after FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced the agency would help new municipal Internet providers get past legal cases, set in place up by older telecom companies and big-business backed "charity" ALEC.
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Twelve cities involved in the coalition are currently facing legal tension, if they push through with municipal broadband. In some cases, it will seek legal action, while in others it is illegal for the city to even try this - even if the telecom won't upgrade their copper-wire.
Austin, Kansas City and Chattanooga, which are part of the coalition, have 1Gbps fiber optic already installed. Austin is also on the list of Google Fiber cities in 2014, alongside Kansas City who already has Google Fiber in a good amount of neighborhoods.
AT&T has been providing new speeds of 300Mbps and 1Gbps in some regions, but this is mostly to combat Google Fiber and other high-speed ISPs, rather than give customers an upgrade for free.
Comcast and Time Warner Cable have been silent on the matter, however. Neither of the two biggest cable companies have any market with 1Gbps fiber optic, with Time Warner Cable even go as far as saying "customers don't want 1Gbps Internet speeds", a statement ridiculed on the Web.
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