It’s no secret that broadband speeds in North Carolina are a bit behind the times. For that matter, the U.S. as a whole is shamefully slow compared to much of the world. With broadband customers in places like the French Alps getting speeds of 6Mbps down and close to 1Mbps up for about $40, and J:COM customers in Japan with access to 160Mbps service, you’d think that getting the same here would be easy. But luckily for us, companies like Time Warner Inc. and Embarq are doing what they can to make sure that doesn’t happen.

DailyTech has an article up about a current battle for service between big cable and the town of Wilson, NC. Time Warner Inc. has, until recently, been pushing a ‘metered’ service – selling the interwebs to you by the bit. While they have seemingly caught on from the backlash that this wasn’t going to fly so well – now they’re making sure customers’ city-provided service in Wilson, NC doesn’t fly either. Wilson’s Greenlight Inc. started offering 100Mbps service, coupled with phone and cable TV package prices that significantly beat Time Warner Inc. and Embarq’s offerings. But instead of competing with more comparable services, the two big cable companies decided to whine to the government.

Rather than admit defeat to the pesky local service and go quietly, Time Warner Inc. and Embarq decided to take the fight to the state government, lobbying for several years to get the state government to pass laws to try to destroy the local effort.  And sure enough, thanks to a lot of hard work (and money), the cable companies are close to getting their wish — North Carolina’s State Senate have proposed bills to not only effectively crippling or banning the local service, but also to prevent such services from getting funds under the broadband portion of the national Stimulus law.

So next time you have to call your cable or DSL company for something that they enevitably screwed up themselves – go ahead – get in a little quality bitch time and let ‘em know how you really feel. And maybe ask them why they’re service is slower than rural France.

Opening This Week!
ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD
The ground-breaking comedy by Tom Stoppard
February 18-March 8
Weds-Sats @ 7:30, Suns @2

Pay-What-You-Can THIS WEDNESDAY ONLY
TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE! $6, cash, exact change.
RESERVATIONS RECOMMENDED,
CALL (828) 239-0263
http://www.ncstage.org/

Tom Stoppard turns Hamlet on its ear by making two minor characters the hapless protagonists of their own story. In Stoppard’s re-imagining, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (or is that Guildenstern and Rosencrantz?) are out of their depths and woefully unsure of their place in the puzzle. While Shakespeare’s masterpiece plays out around them, our heroes remain one tragic step behind the action.