Broadband legislation and funding have taken off in the last few years, on both the state and federal levels. Over the next two weeks, OTELCO will highlight some of the critical efforts our leaders have been making, starting with a look at the broadband efforts Congress, the FCC, and the USDA have in the works for 2020. Congress There are four pieces of broadband legislation in Congress right now. You can click on the name… Read more »
Written By OTELCO Vice President of Marketing, Sales and Customer Service, Trevor Jones Small Cable TV providers fight an annual battle on behalf of our customers against network owners and content providers over the cost of television content, and especially over the price we pay to deliver local channels as part of our cable service. I say we fight this battle on your behalf because small companies like OTELCO generally do not make a profit… Read more »
A few weeks ago, I was at the Poke Salat Festival in Arab, AL, when a customer approached me to ask why OTELCO was selling phone numbers to telemarketers. She said she would receive these calls from local OTELCO numbers, answer the call assuming it was someone in town trying to reach her, and then get accosted by some scammer. OTELCO is not selling numbers to telemarketers, but what that customer was experiencing is something… Read more »
A Time Line of the Struggle for Open Internet In December of 2017, the FCC repealed the Net Neutrality regulations passed in 2015. These regulations ensured an open Internet, where everyone has equal access to the web, and ISPs were required to be transparent with consumers. Since its repeal, many Net Neutrality proponents have promised to fight for its reinstatement. One of the strongest Net Neutrality champions has been Maine Independent Senator Angus King. Senator… Read more »
Last week, Motherboard published an article denouncing a speech made by FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, at this year’s “Free Speech America Gala” held by the Media Institute. In this speech, O’Rielly outwardly attacked municipal owned networks for impinging upon users first amendment rights. The commissioner’s exact words were “In addition to creating competitive distortions and misdirecting scarce resources that should go to bringing broadband to the truly unserved areas, municipal broadband networks have engaged in… Read more »
In the age of social-distancing, reliable telecommuting technology is more... More »
At this point, the majority of us have been self-isolating, either by... More »
COVID-19 has changed the way we’re all doing business as we all do our part... More »