FCC gives ISPs another $563 million to build rural-broadband networks
So, surfing the web as I always do, I came across this article on ARS Technica, a technology news website that I frequent, and came across a story published July 16th, 2019 on their website in which they announce that the FCC is giving ISP’s another $563 Million to build rural-broadband networks. There has been a lot of talk and chatter around Burnet and Lampasas county that this new “federal money is coming”. I would be doing a dis-service if I didn’t help explain that a little better. If you read the FCC’s announcement much more closely, you’ll learn that his money is distributed thru the “Connect America Fund” and companies, such as Hyper Fusion and the “other guys” in the area needed to have submitted their application for those funds MONTHS ago, and that distribution had it gone to anyone in our area would have been announced.
Another one of the big requirements to get access to these funds, is that the ISP’s offer plans and prices akin to the bigger city metro areas. CLEARLY by reviewing prices you can see that EVERY other “WISP” in the area’s prices are FAR over what a normal spectrum cable modem plan would cost you in San Marcos, TX for example. That’s why at Hyper Fusion, we refer to ourself as a “RISP” or “Rural Internet Service Provider”. The companies similar to the ones we compete with have had a historical practice of charging MUCH higher prices for wireless internet, when its not even reliable as its hardline comparative. The sad news is, that even if the Highland Lakes area did have a provider that received those funds, clearly no other provider is going to abide by the pricing caps. That’s why our prices are much lower and much more inline with metro service prices, and our service operates and bills the same way. No slow down in speed once you’ve used a particular amount, no data capping, no nothing. Just pure, raw, internet, as it should be.
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Another systemic practice this program hopes to eliminate is LOCAL MUNICIPALITIES trying to take over internet and offering monopolized internet services for themselves. This is something the regulation is trying to prevent. So what the City of Lampasas is trying to accomplish thru offering internet themselves is EXTREMELY frowned upon and the FCC is working hard to abolish. Along with local municipalities charging extra franchise fee’s, and other grossly inflated “regulatory fees” for putting infrastructure in. Which is a big reason Lampasas doesn’t have good internet yet, is because their poor systemic policy making and decision making processes. Hyper Fusion is working hard to make sure that our practices and policies are inline with the way these processes and practices should be, regardless if its the law, it’s simply the right thing to do.
As reported in this Rueters article ( https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-fcc-television/u-s-fcc-votes-to-tighten-rules-on-cable-franchise-fees-idUSL2N24X180 )
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said “every dollar paid in excessive fees is a dollar that by definition cannot and will not be invested in upgrading and expanding networks.”
Cable operators pay roughly $3 billion annually in franchise fees to state and local governments.
New York told the FCC all city fire stations get free cable and internet service from cable providers.
This is ridiculous and clearly the aim of the Lampasas City government. If you look specifically at local municipalities, like Burnet, Marble Falls, Kingsland, Llano, and others like it, almost NONE of them have had any type of news stories regarding internet, because all those municipalities work with providers to get them in, and get multiple providers in. Marble Falls and Burnet both have Northland Cable and Spectrum, to much bigger co-ax companies. Lampasas has NONE. Think about that folks, and its been that way for years. I know for a fact, lots of folks have high hopes for internet in Lampasas, but the fact of the matter is, its just not going to happen. Our primary competitor over there, just re-sells AT & T, and the new start up company, Olive IP, sells 4G LTE SIM’s, which guess what folks, operate off AT & T towers. So you now have 2 new providers, packing on rural area customers that where never on those already over exhausted Lampasas AT & T fiber lines. This does nothing but make the problem worse.
Here we are, 2 years into delivering internet in Lampasas County and not a SINGLE provider has brought in any new fibers, lines, or anything, except Hyper Fusion. Our own genuine staff and managers, dig, hang, trench, and install our PRIVATELY OWNED and operated fibers, and we DO NOT use AT & T or Spectrums fibers at all to accomplish this. We do not just call up AT & T to come install a fiber to the business connection and then slap our sticker on it and call it our own. We use our own means to get fiber going because Lampasas and Kempner, and all of central rural Texas really needs NEW and MORE, not over stuffing what’s already there. Anyone whose not on that boat, and charges twice the price as we do, is nothing clearly short of a rip off, by declaration of the FCC itself. They are FORCING providers in rural area’s like ours to set their prices more competitively in order to get the money. Just a clear obvious intention to rip people off if your a small rural provider and your charging that much.
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