Charter Lobbyists Sneak Language Into NY State Budget Bill To Hamstring Community Broadband
from the tilt-that-playing-field dept
Lobbyists for Charter Communications (Spectrum) have snuck some sneaky language into New York State’s latest budget bill in an effort to undermine popular community-owned broadband networks.
Part of the budget bill addresses the state’s ConnectALL Initiative, which was launched in 2022 to help direct the billions in broadband funding contained in the 2021 COVID relief and infrastructure bills. Because Charter wants the lion’s share of that money for itself, they’ve seemingly managed to include language that prohibits use of this funding if an area is already deemed “served.”
The problem: U.S. cable providers have long falsely overstated the reach of their broadband networks in a bid to disguise their monopoly power and the resulting lack of competition. That’s largely mirrored in historically awful FCC broadband maps those same cable providers have worked hard to ensure remain inaccurate.
Numerous New York State communities have responded to market failure and monopoly power by building their own fiber networks. Dryden, New York, for example, is currently delivering fiber to every last city resident. The town is offering symmetrical 400 Megabits per second (Mbps) for $45 a month, symmetrical 700 Mbps for $75 a month, and symmetrical gigabit broadband service for $90 a month.
But even these communities often have some modest broadband presence by giants like Charter, even if spotty. But this language would effectively declare parts of their own cities off limits for broadband deployment, undermining these projects’ ability to expand and recoup their full investment.
Like most major ISPs, Charter has received billions of dollars to deploy broadband that’s always mysteriously never quite fully delivered. The company was almost kicked out of New York State back in 2018 for substandard service, and for failing to live up to promises it made when it acquired Time Warner Cable. Prices are high, speeds are low (especially on the upstream), and customer service stinks.
Their lobbyists don’t much like the fact that communities have started doing something about Charter’s monopoly stranglehold on broadband access. So they often harass and sue community broadband initiatives, and in some states have even created fake consumer groups designed to pummel local voters with misinformation, usually under the pretense that they’re just really concerned about taxpayers.
Gigi Sohn, whose nomination to the FCC was recently scuttled thanks to sleazy telecom industry lobbying, had this to say about the language insertion:
“There they go again – incumbent cable lobbyists are trying to stop the inevitable growth and popularity of public broadband networks through last minute and non-transparent legislative tricks. That they are attempting to stop competition and community choice is especially outrageous as those same companies are taking, and will continue to take, billions of taxpayer dollars to build and sustain their networks.”
There’s been a big push by big ISPs to restrict the billions in federal broadband grants only to areas technically deemed “unserved.” But a big obstacle to broadband adoption is affordability. And broadband isn’t affordable (or consistently available) in regions where unchecked monopoly power has been allowed to elbow out all meaningful competition.
If Charter really wanted to nip community broadband access in the bud, they could deliver faster, cheaper, better service. Instead it’s usually cheaper to file lawsuits, spread misinformation, or lobby corrupt state officials keen on undermining their own constituents’ quest for affordable access.
Filed Under: broadband, cable, community broadband, dryden, gigabit, isps, municipal broadband, new york
Companies: charter spectrum
Comments on “Charter Lobbyists Sneak Language Into NY State Budget Bill To Hamstring Community Broadband”
Get rid of capitalism and you will get rid of these financial predators.
But if you attempt to get rid of capitalism, you would only suffer the same fate as Salvador Allende.
Re:
“Get rid of capitalism and you will get rid of these financial predators.”
I am a pessimist, I admit it but …
Capitalism is not the root cause of financial predation.
Claims of service are not the most reliable. Proof of service, and/or penalties for false claims may help.
Lying to protect profits, that’s a problem to be addressed a different way.
It’d be fun to add in a change to the language saying that if an ISP indicates an area is “served” and after that time documentation can be produced that an address in that area was refused service because that address is not served, the ISP has committed fraud and the area is deemed “not served” by them.
Re: Better solution
If an area is deemed to be “served” by an ISP, then they are required by law to install working service within 1 week, no matter the cost for EVERY address in the area when requested. Fees cannot be more than the prevailing rate of current subscribers in the area. If they fail, the entire area immediately reverts to unserved and the ISP at its expense must give up all equipment or other infrastructure that may exist. If the address to be served is the FIRST to request and get service, the ISP is required to hook up ALL addresses at their expense (since they lied) and when done, donate the system to a local community run ISP.
God, that’s really going to suck for people living in New York State!
*looks at state wherein they reside*
D’oh!
would love
IF-
The States would send the final bill to the public.
So the smarter of us can read it and Laugh.
Man I hate fuckin Charter so much, they are the local monopoly where I live (while Comcast is conveniently only serving the next big county up north. But not Charter)
Their retention department is not as aggressive as companies like Comcrap. Only after you have cancelled multiple services so they finally start sending any kind of offers and they are still laughable. Several years after I finally was able to get my parents to kill off their cable/phone/mobile service from them I get several emails a week for “amazing offers!!!10101”
Also like all other incumbents they don’t actually “directly” service your community too because every local department is actually just a bunch of contractors and “authorized agents” to avoid actually doing right by the communities they serve. They don’t give a shit about affordability or offering adequate services for disabled people, veterans or low income households.
They don’t accept money from Oregon state’s lifeline program to help said people reduce their bills. They can easily provision their network to any speed they want but don’t, the only program they offer to said individuals is a laughable tier of service that just barely exceeded the od FCC definition of broadband that is barely usable for modern Internet services. They force bundling on vulnerable people too. ( My older disabled brother’s service was forced to be bundled with phone service. They gave us no option to not get it. Which by this year meant the base bill was around 90+$)
Finally a local co-op owned fiber service extended their reach to the low income apartment complex where he lives and now gets 250/250 symmetrical for 60$ before any subsidies. And their service has been fantastic and prompt after some bad luck with the router they gave him literally just short circuited and died. And another time where it turned out his car chewed through part of the fiber cable (oops). They are upfront about what their labor cost will be per hour if they have to do any actual work that is the result of anything not due to their fault.
If Charter had their way since he was already “served” no one else would be allowed to. So fuck Charter, fuck them in their stupid faces.(I think that’s the right quote from Jay and Silent Bob)
Re:
With a subpoena? I can see Charter suing people to get their own way.
fixredliningONLongIslandNOW!!
25+ years after Telco Verizon and later on Cablevision/Altice deployed fiber on Long Island, NY.. there are STILL communities left behind with plain old rj11 copper wires for phone/dsl and coax based cable broadband which can’t get gigabit speeds!! Also the prices and terms of services in these communities is nothing other than PREDATORY PRICING!!! Nobody seems to care to do anything about it…
Charter/Spectrum Ghetto Cable
The Charter corporate criminal gangsters (CEOs) were made aware over 5 years ago now, that the power supplies to both Charter/Spectrum’s modems and routers are so poorly designed that they are too heavy to stay in AC outlet and if placed on a power strip, the slots in the power strip causes the prongs to spread apart causing a loose power supply connection, and will cause both pieces of equipment to eventually go bad, where they will no longer initialize properly, and the modem stops trying to register in Spectrum’s Cable Modem Termination Service system.
At that point new equipment must be installed but not before you use a simple brown or green extension cord to plug both the modem and router into it, one on each side of the extension cord. No other devices should be. plugged into the power cord.
Corporate committed Whistleblower retaliation against me for reporting the issue to them. Human Resources Manager Darren Adelman and Supervisor James Bootsma out of the Hemet, California office, were given the green light to harm or kill me, by telling me I had to do my jobs in half the time allotted, in a very dangerous work environment that cable technicians can face daily.
I injured my spine (neck) in the attic that two physicians stated was work related, but along with the equally corrupt ESIS AIU AIG Workers Compensation Insurance agent Michaella Wahlberg, all three committed a felony in denying medical care and compensation for my spinal injury. Corporate bought out the entire Workers Compensation System in my case here in Southern California, unable to work and crushed financially, receiving $580 twice a month to live off of. How merciless of Charter to just harm and kill, to destroy lives because of their Satanic mentality.
It is my intention to wait until a new administration is elected this November, and a new honest FCC is sworn in, and report these criminal fraudulent acts against consumers, and the criminal retaliation that has taken place against me, for reporting it.
No good deed goes unpunished in this evil world we live in.
Charter/Spectrum Cable Defrauding Customers and Hiding their Crimes
I am a disabled technician injured as a result of Whistleblowing against CharterSpectrum Ghetto Cable.
Check oot my recent post about the criminality of this criminal enterprise known as Charter/Spectrum Ghetto Cable:
Need 1 for telephone and internet, need 2 for wifi, and 3 is cable box for tv.
Should have a simple brown or green extension cord to plug in modem and router into as the transformer plug is too heavy to sit in the AC outlet, and power strips tend to spread the prongs outward and that causes both to sit loosely on the power strip causing intermittent power.
If you can take your index finger and rock the transformer power plug gently, it is not providing power continuously to the modem and router. This will cause the modem and router to reset which will cause intermittent internet and intermittent wifi. Eventually it will cause the equipment to go bad, and you will have to get new equipment, always change out both.
Previous CEO Rutledge and current CEO (both criminals) were made aware of these problems with defective power supplies over 5 years ago by me, but instead of fixing the problem, they would rather defraud the paying U.S. consumer of billions of dollars, by not providing reliable internet and wifi service that contractually they are required by law to provide. To further deceive the public of this major criminal act, they had their engineers remove the event log or flaplist internally from their modems, that would show that intermittent power was causing the modem to constantly reset, resulting in unreliable internet, to constantly go on and off.
If you have been having these issues for years, have been fraudulenly charged for repeat trouble calls, then you need to contact the FCC, your Congress or Senate representative, and demand this unscrupulous company be put out of business for their criminal practices.
They targeted me as a Whistleblower, a disabled veteran, and an older technician, when Charter’s management (with CEO Rutledge’s knowledge, sent letter by certified mail) had Human Resources Manager Darren Adelman, Supervisor James Bootsma, ESIS AIU AIG Workers Compensation Insurance Representive Michaella Waghlberg, committed insurance fraud by denying Workers Compensation, a felony, when I injured my spine (neck) while working in an attic.
Charter/Spectrum Cable Defrauding Customers and Hiding their Crimes
I am a disabled technician injured as a result of Whistleblowing against CharterSpectrum Ghetto Cable.
More Tech Dirt about the criminality of this criminal enterprise known as Charter/Spectrum Ghetto Cable:
Should have a simple brown or green extension cord to plug in modem and router into as the transformer plug is too heavy to sit in the AC outlet, and power strips tend to spread the prongs outward and that causes both to sit loosely on the power strip causing intermittent power.
If you can take your index finger and rock the transformer power plug gently, it is not providing power continuously to the modem and router. This will cause the modem and router to reset which will cause intermittent internet and intermittent wifi. Eventually it will cause the equipment to go bad, and you will have to get new equipment, always change out both.
Previous CEO Rutledge and current CEO (both criminals) were made aware of these problems with defective power supplies over 5 years ago by me, but instead of fixing the problem, they would rather defraud the paying U.S. consumer of billions of dollars, by not providing reliable internet and wifi service that contractually they are required by law to provide. To further deceive the public of this major criminal act, they had their engineers remove the event log or flaplist internally from their modems, that would show that intermittent power was causing the modem to constantly reset, resulting in unreliable internet, to constantly go on and off.
If you have been having these issues for years, have been fraudulenly charged for repeat trouble calls, then you need to contact the FCC, your Congress or Senate representative, and demand this unscrupulous company be put out of business for their criminal practices.
They targeted me as a Whistleblower, a disabled veteran, and an older technician, when Charter’s management (with CEO Rutledge’s knowledge, sent letter by certified mail) had Human Resources Manager Darren Adelman, Supervisor James Bootsma, ESIS AIU AIG Workers Compensation Insurance Representive Michaella Waghlberg, committed insurance fraud by denying Workers Compensation, a felony, when I injured my spine (neck) while working in an attic.