Internet Service in your zip code?
Sometimes the big Internet providers don't think it will be profitable enough to build high-speed internet connections in an area so they leave some areas underserved. As a result high speed Internet service in zip codes can be spotty. Some areas have great high speed Internet while others not so much.
In an attempt to solve this some communities have banded together and sought to create community or municipal broadband services. This is broadband service provided to an area by local city or county governments. This can be a great solution for residents of the underserved community. Unfortunately some companies don't want the competition. Even if they are refusing to provide the service they don't want to allow governments or sometimes even other companies to provide the service.
Some of these big Internet service providers even lobbied state governments to outlaw municipal broadband providers. This happened in North Carolina. When a local government in Wilson, NC solved their lack of broadband Internet themselves, the same big Internet service providers who refused to provide the service themselves, lobbied the state's legislature and now it is against the law for local governments to try to provide high speed Internet for their residents in North Carolina. This was done in the name of protecting businesses. What about protecting the citizens?
A Comcast backed fight against municipal broadband in Fort Collins Colorado, ended with the municipal broadband service winning despite being out spent to the tune of almost a million dollars.
To get high-speed Internet in the area, the town of Louisville, KY had to fight, not only the big corporate Internet providers but the infamous Koch brothers. The oil billionaire's funded Taxpayer Protection Alliance attacked the municipal initiative on social media with misleading tweets. Fortunately for the underserved residents the plan backfired when word of the Koch funding came out.
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