[v6z] The growth of municipal broadband networks

Sat Mar 26 07:38:05 UTC 2011

On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 11:31 AM, Paul Graydon <paul at paulgraydon.co.uk>wrote:

>
> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/133-us-cities-now-run-their-own-broadband-networks.ars
>
> Ars Technica has a short article up about the growth of municipal networks,
> but principally a nice little 'hey check out this website' (
> http://www.muninetworks.org/communitymap)
>
> The whole scenario around municipal broadband networks in a hopefully
> unbiased nutshell:  Increasing numbers cities and counties seem to be
> getting frustrated with what they see as the lack of progress in broadband
> speeds from their incumbent provider(s) (even after incumbent provider(s)
> have been approached requesting faster speeds) and are deciding to do it
> themselves.

Whilst that's certainly true for some areas, it's definitely not the case
for all of the areas marked on that map.

The only entry for the SF Bay area is San Bruno, where the municipal-owned
cable provider *is* the incumbent, and has been for the past 30 years. Not
only are they the incumbent, but they are also a monopoly who have blocked
competition, resulting in higher prices than in much of the rest of the bay
area.

  Scott
  (Happily no longer living in San Bruno)