“The telephone network is obsolete”: Get ready for the all-IP telco (AY&T wants to screw YOU)

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14. U.S. Internet Users Pay More for Slower Service

U.S. Internet Users Pay More for Slower Service

U.S. Internet Users Pay More for Slower Service
By Susan Crawford Dec 27, 2012 6:30 PM ET


In 2004, the Lafayette utilities system decided to provide a fiber-to-the-home service. The new network, called LUS Fiber, would give everyone in Lafayette a very fast Internet connection, enabling them to lower their electricity costs by monitoring and adjusting their usage.

Push-back from the local telephone company, BellSouth Corp., and the local cable company, Cox Communications Inc., was immediate. They tried to get laws passed to stop the network, sued the city, even forced the town to hold a referendum on the project -- in which the people voted 62 percent in favor. Finally, in February 2007, after five civil lawsuits, the Louisiana Supreme Court voted, 7-0, to allow the network.

From 2007 to mid-2011, people living in Lafayette saved $5.7 million on telecommunications services.

Since Lafayette went down this path, other communities have followed. According to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a group that advocates for municipal fiber networks, these community-owned networks are generally faster, more reliable and cheaper than those of the private carriers, and provide better customer service.
City Fiber

It’s not free. Fiber connection costs $1,200 to $2,000 a house. It can take two to three years for revenue from any given customer to offset the upfront investment. But then the fiber lasts for decades. Municipal networks are seeing more than half of households adopt the service. And scores of communities are discovering that the networks bring new jobs.

MORE AND an EXCELLENT READ HERE AT THIS SITE:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-27/u-s-internet-users-pay-more-for-slower-service.html