ISPs may not act for years on local complaints about slow Internet—but when a town rolls out its own solution, it’s amazing how fast the incumbents can deploy fiber, cut prices, and run to the legislature. Regional telco TDS Telecommunications last week issued a press release announcing a major milestone for the company: 50Mbps service over fiber optic cable to residents of Monticello, Minnesota. The Minneapolis suburb became one of the few non-FiOS communities in the country to experience full fiber-to-the-home deployment, and subscribers will all receive a free upgrade from 25Mbps service to the new 50Mbps tier. Even better is the price, which starts at $49.95 a month for 50Mbps fiber service without the need to buy other services.
TDS is thrilled. “This is a huge first for TDS,” said market manager Tom Ollig. “TDS is working incredibly hard to deliver the faster speeds customers want.”
What they won’t tell you or put in a press release is why “TDS is working incredibly hard to deliver the faster speeds customers want.” The reason why is because the city of Monticello, Minnesota decided to run their own municipal fiber network to the home. TDS noticing that they would lose customers and quickly acted on this with a law suit. Read more about it here: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/10/want-50mbps-internet-in-your-town-threaten-to-roll-out-your-own.ars
ISPs may not act for years on local complaints about slow Internet—but when a town rolls out its own solution, it’s amazing how fast the incumbents can deploy fiber, cut prices, and run to the legislature. Regional telco TDS Telecommunications last week issued a press release announcing a major milestone for the company: 50Mbps service over fiber optic cable to residents of Monticello, Minnesota. The Minneapolis suburb became one of the few non-FiOS communities in the country to experience full fiber-to-the-home deployment, and subscribers will all receive a free upgrade from 25Mbps service to the new 50Mbps tier. Even better is the price, which starts at $49.95 a month for 50Mbps fiber service without the need to buy other services.
TDS is thrilled. “This is a huge first for TDS,” said market manager Tom Ollig. “TDS is working incredibly hard to deliver the faster speeds customers want.”
What they won’t tell you or put in a press release is why “TDS is working incredibly hard to deliver the faster speeds customers want.” The reason why is because the city of Monticello, Minnesota decided to run their own municipal fiber network to the home. TDS noticing that they would lose customers and quickly acted on this with a law suit. Read more about it here: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/10/want-50mbps-internet-in-your-town-threaten-to-roll-out-your-own.ars
