Ok. Going to be a little long winded and most of you won't care about this. If nothing else read the article linked below and watch part 1 of the documentary linked at the bottom. I don't live in Pinetops so I don't get Greenlight service but it pisses me off. Pinetops and Macclesfield buy their power from Wilson. A few years ago, Pinetops officials approached CenturyLink about upgrading their services and SuddenLink about expanding into Pinetops. Both declined.
"Suddenlink’s service area ends about two miles outside of Pinetops town limits. Nevertheless, Suddenlink wasn't willing to bring cable service to Pinetops. CenturyLink didn't want to make investments to upgrade the community's old DSL solution; the community had no options from national providers."
Article link here: https://muninetworks.org/content/suddenlink-plans-pinetops-deployment-greenlight-must-go
Wilson couldn't get the internet providers to upgrade their services in Wilson, so it created it's on internet service called Greenlight. Since Pinetops buys it's electricity from Wilson, the town officials approached Greenlight about provided internet service to Pinetops. It was approved by the FCC (read article linked above).
People started dropping CenturyLink and signing up for Greenlight. CenturyLink took notice and sent a lobbyist to Raleigh to try to stop it. According to what one town official told me, the lobbyist told the legislature that the FCC overstepped them and that a "Municipality is not suppose to be in competition with private business." The state of North Carolina used tax payer money to sue the FCC. The FCC backed off. Pinetops town officials went to the legislature to attempt to keep Greenlight. The big telcoms were there as well. The Pinetops officials (two of them) were given 2 minutes to speak. The 5 telcom lobbyist were given 2 minutes as well. As relayed by a town official to me "After the meeting we all went out into the atrium. We (town officials) were standing around talking and they (telcom lobbyist) were all huddled around and kept looking over at us. It reminded me of the floor of the stock exchange where every where you looked deals were being made. Finally one of the guys from Suddenlink walks over to us and says Suddenlink is interested in bringing internet to Pinetops."
So, if I am understanding this correctly, CenturyLink had no interest in upgrading their services and SuddenLink had no interest in providing services to Pinetops until Greenlight came to town. One of the town officials commented he found it interesting that CenturyLink has a problem with Greenlight being in town but has no problem with SuddenLink coming in and taking its business. This is bad for Pinetops, but poor Macclesfield is going to be hung out to dry. Greenlight had not yet brought services to Macclesfield and because of this probably won't. Most of us are sure that SuddenLink will only provide service to Pinetops and will not expand into Macclesfield. These small towns are dying.
A documentary about this will be coming out in the future. In the meantime here is a trailer for part one of it"
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/donotpassgo
"Suddenlink’s service area ends about two miles outside of Pinetops town limits. Nevertheless, Suddenlink wasn't willing to bring cable service to Pinetops. CenturyLink didn't want to make investments to upgrade the community's old DSL solution; the community had no options from national providers."
Article link here: https://muninetworks.org/content/suddenlink-plans-pinetops-deployment-greenlight-must-go
Wilson couldn't get the internet providers to upgrade their services in Wilson, so it created it's on internet service called Greenlight. Since Pinetops buys it's electricity from Wilson, the town officials approached Greenlight about provided internet service to Pinetops. It was approved by the FCC (read article linked above).
People started dropping CenturyLink and signing up for Greenlight. CenturyLink took notice and sent a lobbyist to Raleigh to try to stop it. According to what one town official told me, the lobbyist told the legislature that the FCC overstepped them and that a "Municipality is not suppose to be in competition with private business." The state of North Carolina used tax payer money to sue the FCC. The FCC backed off. Pinetops town officials went to the legislature to attempt to keep Greenlight. The big telcoms were there as well. The Pinetops officials (two of them) were given 2 minutes to speak. The 5 telcom lobbyist were given 2 minutes as well. As relayed by a town official to me "After the meeting we all went out into the atrium. We (town officials) were standing around talking and they (telcom lobbyist) were all huddled around and kept looking over at us. It reminded me of the floor of the stock exchange where every where you looked deals were being made. Finally one of the guys from Suddenlink walks over to us and says Suddenlink is interested in bringing internet to Pinetops."
So, if I am understanding this correctly, CenturyLink had no interest in upgrading their services and SuddenLink had no interest in providing services to Pinetops until Greenlight came to town. One of the town officials commented he found it interesting that CenturyLink has a problem with Greenlight being in town but has no problem with SuddenLink coming in and taking its business. This is bad for Pinetops, but poor Macclesfield is going to be hung out to dry. Greenlight had not yet brought services to Macclesfield and because of this probably won't. Most of us are sure that SuddenLink will only provide service to Pinetops and will not expand into Macclesfield. These small towns are dying.
A documentary about this will be coming out in the future. In the meantime here is a trailer for part one of it"
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/donotpassgo