Dismal speeds from most providers still the norm in the US

Yahoo! News has a good story today about Internet access speeds, and the news is no surprise. In spite of millions of dollars of slick advertising and cartoon characters, we’re still slow in this country. This line sums it up best. “When it comes to Internet performance, in the aggregate, none of us are exactly [...]

Paper: Muni Broadband Bill Quietly Tucked Into Another Bill

Okay, I know there’s a lot to keep up with in this ongoing battle, but there’s a new development you need to know about. According to the Greensboro News and Record’s Mark Binker, the municipal broadband moratorium from senate bill 1209 has been moved to another bill, house bill 1840; apparently to get around a [...]

Clarifications to News and Observer Article About NC Broadband Bill

The News and Observer published an article this week about the broadband fight in NC. While the reporter did his best to cover a big issue in a relatively small amount of space, some important points were left out. First, you should know two things: Before building our fiber optic network, Wilson asked the cable [...]

Better bandwidth is about much more than cable

Wilson is exempt from S1209, but the bill would make it much more difficult for NC cities or towns to build similar networks in the future. As we watch the bill make its way through the legislature, here are some ways that Wilson’s community owned fiber optic network is helping the people of Wilson right [...]

S1209 Passes NC Senate, on to the House

The bill that will slow, if not stop public broadband deployment in NC passed the Senate last night. Here’s the newest version. The City of Wilson’s Greenlight network is safe. Here’s an update from Catharine Rice of Action Audits: “S1209 received more than 30 minutes of discussion on its third reading. The State’s heros include [...]

S1209 almost passes Senate, Vote goes to Monday on technicality

Senate Bill 1209 nearly passed the full Senate today, but it was called back on a technicality. Long story short, the vote appeared to be overwhelmingly in support of the bill, but one senator wanted to change his vote. It will come back Monday at 7pm for a third reading and vote. Catharine Rice of [...]

S1209 exempts Wilson; goes to the full Senate today

The Senate Finance Committee made some pretty big changes to Senate Bill 1209 yesterday. It is being heard in the Senate today. You can listen to the discussion here. Just click on Senate Chamber. Wilson was fully exempt from the bill. That means the 28-million dollar investment our community made three years ago wasn’t made [...]

Today’s vote moved to Wednesday, June 2nd

For the second time, discussion of S1209 in the Senate Finance Committee has been delayed. The new date is Wednesday, June 2, at 1pm. Really nothing to report today. Senator Clodfelter (D-Mecklenburg) announced at the beginning of the meeting that S1209 was no longer on the agenda for the day, then the Committee moved on [...]