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Century Votes 3-2 To Continue Exploring Wi-Fi Plan
June 2, 2009
The Century Town Council split 3-2 Monday night to take a closer look at getting into the wireless Internet broadband business.
The council will set a special meeting to learn more about the technical side of a business proposal presented two weeks ago by Virginia consultant Rodney Thomas. His plan would build a wireless broadband system in the town with federal grant money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Fund. The town would make $10 for each $34 subscriber to the Wi-Fi internet service.
Councilman Gary Riley made the motion to have the technical staff meet with the council to explain the “Century Community Access Network”. But Century Mayor Freddie McCall said he was concerned that if the town gets into the Internet business, it might infringe on a franchise agreement Century has with the Bright House cable company. The mayor said the city does make money off the Bright House franchise, but he was not immediately able to give a dollar figure at Monday night’s council meeting.
“It won’t be near what we could make if we had our own services,” Councilman Henry Hawkins said.
Council President Ann Brooks said she wanted to have the town’s attorney look at the cable franchise agreement to see if there might be a conflict with the town operating an internet service.
“I don’t see any conflict in looking ahead before the contract is up,” Riley said.
Brooks and council member Nadine McCaw voted against moving forward with a technical meeting on the service, while Hawkins, Riley and Sharon Scott voted in favor of the meeting.
Comments
10 Responses to “Century Votes 3-2 To Continue Exploring Wi-Fi Plan”
Well, if Brighthouse’s WiFi is anything like their cable service, I can’t imagine that it will be worth $34 pre month + fees! In the long run the city should do whatever it can to get away from Brighthouse as their main goal will be to make as much cash as possible. The city’s main goal should be to provide affordable WiFi service that helps everyone in the community.
Thanks for checking into that William! Looks like the prices have come down since the last time I checked into that.
Casandra. AT&T offers DSL withOUT a phone line for $19.95/mo
http://www.bellsouth.com/consumer/inetsrvcs/inetsrvcs_dry_pop.html
I still have yet to see the need for “Virginia consultant Rodney Thomas”.
Why can’t the town of Century, if this is something they NEED, just do it themselves?
Correct me if I’m wrong–it won’t be the first time, but I believe that in order to get DSL for just $20 through ATT, you have to also subscribe to their phone service. To purchase what is known as “naked” DSL, or DSL without a landline phone, it costs more money. So for those who use cell phones exclusively and do not have or need landline telephone service, this may very well be a good option.
Hmmmmm I work in Century and use AT&T dsl that is why. I also can’t see people paying more than they need to for good internet service. So there is your answer Hmmmmm.
Just wondering….why is someone from Walnut Hill
worried about something happening in Century?
Why do we need another internet service in Century. AT&T dsl works great and only cost 19.95 per month. You can get the faster dsl from them for just a few dollars more but, the regular dsl worksd fine with hardly ever any downtime.
Bright House pays for their monopoly agreement with Century? Makes sense, given the way the company operates in the rest of Florida. I concur with Harvey: Century Town Council, be very wary of Bright House once they find out you’re considering this wi-fi deal.
And you can bet Brighthouse will look to move quickly against Century if even the *faintest* hint is heard that the cable giant could lose money, considerations towards the community??? Hardly. I will say its kinda nice to see somebody else making money off something dealing with Brighthouse, rather than having the company just outright take it from them.