Posted on 01/15/2015 7:27:22 AM PST by SeekAndFind
President Obama has called on cities and towns to create their own broadband service for their residents to compete with large corporations.
Obama was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa touting the plan to get states to relax their rules against municipalities setting up their own networks. Cedar Rapids got an exemption from the FCC to create their own networks a few years ago.
Republicans in Congress reacted immediately.
"In Tennessee we have a term to describe people like President Obama — tone-deaf,” Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said in a statement.
“At a time when Americans think the biggest problem facing our nation today is big government, you would think he'd have gotten the message by now,” she added. “We don't need unelected bureaucrats like FCC [Federal Communications Commission] Chairman Tom Wheeler dictating to our states what they can and can't do with respect to protecting their limited taxpayer dollars and private enterprises.”
In 19 states, there are laws on the books limiting local governments from building out their own municipal Internet services.
The FCC has been asked by two cities — in North Carolina and in Tennessee — to override those laws. Obama on Wednesday urged the FCC to do just that.
“I’m on the side of competition,” Obama said during his speech at a Cedar Falls utility plant.
Supporters of the move say that it would help create more competition for broadband service, and many Democrats cheered Obama’s call. According to the FCC, more than half the country has just one option for high-speed broadband Internet service with download speeds of 25 Mbps or higher.
Critics, however, say that it would amount to Washington intervention in local laws.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
High Speed WIreless gets my vote.
whats to keep...say c-o-m-c-a-s-t- form raising thier rates to whatever they want....?
certainly not any across the board competition...unless one requires phone service from ATT as part of a bundle
Government run Internet service is government controlled Internet access and content. Obama’s minions are already tapping our phone calls, illegally accessing our tax records and soon maybe accessing our health information. Giving them control our Internet would give them police state powers that would be the envy of of the Gestapo, KGB and Stasi.
Your Communist dollars at work.
“I’m on the side of competition,” Obama said...
Anybody have advice on how to clean-up coffee on a keyboard?
Im going to disagree a bit ..working in telcom
Many city have there own water,power, sewage....so the city has the physical path over the land ..the easement ... including the so call “last mile” connection to your property..
running telcom copper and fiber over the same easements with water power and sewage lines is common
.LADWP has dark fiber for telcom on it power poles you can lease..
Please get out of our lives!
The Government giveth and the Government taketh away.....
Obummer calls for government censorship would be more accurate.
I believe Chattanooga, Tennessee has done this too.
ping!
whats to keep comcast........
nothing and that was apparently the problem in Bristol
the municipal company governed by a local board apparently solved the rate issue. they also now offer phone service if desired.
comcast or whoever lost a lot of customers simply by being an arrogant monoply
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