Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Web
  3. News

North Carolina town works around state law, gives free internet service to its neighbor

By

wilson nc fcc internet neighbors 40327424 network cable
hywards / 123RF Stock Photo
A small town figured out a way to help neighbors despite state law. The state of North Carolina told the town of Wilson they couldn’t sell high-speed internet service to nearby towns, so the town is providing access for free while appealing to the state General Assembly, according to Ars Technica.

Wilson, North Carolina, has a municipal fiber optic broadband internet service called Greenlight. In compliance with state law, they did not offer it outside the town. In 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said the North Carolina law and a similar law in Tennessee preventing municipal providers from selling service to other towns was wrong and preempted it.

Recommended Videos

Greenlight then started selling fast internet to a few customers outside town lines in this rural area that is underserved by major providers. The state then sued the FCC and regained protection for major internet providers, regardless of where they did or didn’t provide service. That action made it illegal for Greenlight to provide service to neighbors in Nash and Edgecombe counties.

The Wilson City Council reluctantly agreed to comply. The Council voted to turn off service to their customers across town lines, even though it would mean that a large wholesale produce farm and about 200 residential customers would no longer have broadband internet service. Now they have a temporary workaround.

As quoted by Ars Technica from the Wilson Times, “City leaders are walking a tightrope as they balance their desire to keep Vick Family Farms in rural Nash County and 200 customers in the Edgecombe County town of Pinetops connected to Greenlight with their obligation to obey a federal court ruling that blocks the municipal broadband service from branching out beyond county lines. The council agreed Thursday night to provide six months of free internet access and phone service to Greenlight customers outside Wilson County while Wilson lobbies the General Assembly for permission to keep the town connected on a permanent basis.”

Previously Greenlight had provided cable TV service as well, but television won’t be included in the free service while the town waits for permission to resume selling the service. Internet access and internet-based phone service will be free. The state law doesn’t say they can’t give it away, Wilson just can’t charge out-of-towners for internet service. So they’re not.

That’s country neighborly.

Topics
Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown
Contributing Editor
Bruce Brown Contributing Editor   As a Contributing Editor to the Auto teams at Digital Trends and TheManual.com, Bruce…
How to change margins in Google Docs
Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content --- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Read more
What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app
A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Read more
Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs
A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.

Read more