A Net Battle That May Hit Close to Home

By: Mr. Wilson on June 25, 2009
Look, I understand why Time Warner and Comcast are fuming. It sucks to have to pay for a service that your former customers can receive for free elsewhere. They have a legitimate gripe. As a customer, though, I just want my ISP to pump data through the pipes as quickly as possible. I don't want to have to worry about whether or not I can view XYZ website's content under my current cable subscription. Those sorts of considerations are unfortunately becoming more and more the norm. It drives me nuts. I would make the argument that if ISPs aren't careful they will squeeze out their own customers. Although that is somewhat true, in fact many consumers have few options to go elsewhere. Now that I think about it, I wonder if Internet Nebraska's cable broadband service would be hamstrung in the same way as Time Warner's, if Time Warner does cut off certain services. Do any of you know more about how that might work?

Comments

See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.

Kirk
June 25, 2009 at 2:13PM

I have no experience with Internet Nebraska personally, but I have been told in the past that it is a rebranded Time Warner connection. If this is so, I would reason that IN would also be affected.

ISP/Cable companies are going to do what they can to maintain an old business model. The problem is that it has already been proven that the more they restrict, the more piracy takes place. The expesive satelite connections that they are trying to pay for are outdated technology. There are much more efficient ways to serve programs which cost less. In the end, I don’t think the cable companies will win. But, I guess we will see.

Fletch
June 25, 2009 at 4:04PM

They get what they deserve. They’ve been bending over their customers for years, and raising rates with little to no increase in services or values. Their rate increases are like clockwork. The local management sucks beyond belief, and they made over $100 Million in profit in the last quarter. My heart does not go out to the them - they should work toward becoming part of the solution instead of part of the problem. They get everything they deserve.

Kristi
June 25, 2009 at 4:09PM

Kirk is right, Internet Nebraska and AOL both use Time Warner’s modems and connection.  There is no difference between the services.

Mr. Wilson
June 25, 2009 at 4:21PM

Although it’s true the basics of the service are the same, I wonder if Time Warner’s filtering would likewise affect Internet Nebraska’s service. For example, I could see Lincoln’s franchise agreement with Time Warner requiring TW to serve IN’s customers completely unfiltered data. I don’t know the details of the agreement, however.

Kristi
June 25, 2009 at 6:04PM

I don’t know how that would work.  I used to work at Time Warner, on the business side, i know basically everything was the same.  It wouldnt really make sense from TWC’s side to filter roadrunner and not internet nebr, everyone would just switch to internet nebraska and still be using their bandwith to watch free programming.

hbrogan57
June 29, 2009 at 10:15AM

Lincoln has been…and always will beit seems. A Good ‘Ol Boy town.  Seems that Lincoln is 15 to 20 years behind when it comes to any number of things.  However, when it comes to Cable it has ALWAYS sucked!!!!  For reference I give you Cablevision…....

Currently I am living in the Norfolk, Virginia area.  There are numerous cable and satellite companies to shoose from.  I fail to see the reasoning from TW in this “blockage” of sites.  It’s a load of crap when they are making millions from all of those folks who are willing to pay for crappy service.  Yes I did have TW when I was in Lincoln….and suffered through the bad service and terrible customer “help” lines when you call them.

It’s obviously time for change….but only IF Lincolnites are willing to stnd up and fight for it.  But that won’t happen.  Just more sheep being led around anywhere the rope pulls them…....

Share your thoughts with the community.

Commenting is no longer permitted on this post.