Online cooperative for people: How former spectrum staff spoke a difference in Bronx

in New York CityThe vision of the free, high -speed and owned internet was more than just a dream. the Etisalat selecting peopleThe worker owned by the cooperative community on the Internet, was launched in 2020- thanks to the subsidies from Reasonable prices programIt was successfully presented quickly, Cheap internet in Bronx While ACP was still active.

“Nobody thinks we can already build the system,” said Troy Walcott, head of people’s choice.

The city’s decision to exclude cooperation from Big Apple Connect It has led to significant discounts for employees in choosing people and putting the organization at the risk of closing. However, the story of cooperative is an unlikely and rare story about the broadband connection in the United States, and it is a story that begins range Workers who go to the strike in 2017.

Building from A to Z

In 2017, 1,800 workers came out of the spectrum Because of the unparalleled demands regarding health care and retirement benefits, after the Time Warner Cable acquired the previous year (which led to the creation of the Spectrum brand). Forty of these amazing workers decided to take matters with their own hands by creating their internet, and intended to set stock priorities on profits.

“Instead of giving a lot of profits, such as CEOs, etc., we take these profits and respond to the system to help also provide a service to those areas that will not usually be provided by profit ISP,” Walcott said.

The model is simple: workers and subscribers muted the network. Persons selecting employees build and maintain the network, and the residents pay monthly fees and participate in governance.

Community delivery, one building at one time

Use a network of network for network to get the online buildings, and install the wave antennas on the roofs of the homes to receive signals. The initial preparation was similar to that private New York City NetworkAnother free internet service provider. Since then, cooperation has expanded to I Internet service fiber For more reliability.

The main plan for the Internet of New York CityThe former mayor’s initiative, Bill de Palacio, to make the Internet more affordable and available to reach the people and other small internet service providers to the buildings supervised by the Housing Authority in New York City, the government -run public housing agency in the city, which was an important source of financing for the newly formed participation.

Erik Foreman, co -founder of the people and work activist who also helped develop a free and high -speed internet file, said. Cooperative Mixed Rating In the city.

Currently select people 200 Megabits in the second From the speed of downloading and similar download for only $ 30 a month, with plans to expand to the level of 500 Mbps for $ 45 per month and 1000 Mbps per second for $ 60 per month. For context, Special provides a 500MB layer per second for $ 50 per month and 1000 Mbps per second for $ 70 per month, making people choose an applicable competitor.

The battle for the Internet is accessible is a continuous battle

Since the launch of the service, People has faced many road barriers, the largest of which was the city’s decision to rid the Big Apple Connect program.

After a change in the city’s management, the Big Apple Connect is effectively replaced by the main internet plan. The initiative, launched by Mayor Eric Adams in 2022 and Technology and Innovation Office in New York CityIt aims to bridge the city’s bold division by providing free internet into 150,000 families in 220 NYCH’s development for three years. According to a spokesman for the Technology and Innovation Office in New York City, the program serves about 330,000 New York residents.

What internet companies have the city chose to lead the Big Apple Connect program, rather than choosing people? Spectrum and Optimal internet.

According to Walcott, the largest customer group in Co-OP is located in Melrose House, a Housing Authority Development Company in New York City with the selection of the Internet to choose people who have been completed by 90 %. Along with progress in other NYCH developments, the cooperative was about to exceed more than 5,000 units offered. The city refused to choose people from a license to continue services in the development of Melrose Houses, and the cooperative was required to remove all equipment from the buildings.

Walcott said that the New York City Technology and Innovation Office “told NYCH to remove us from the buildings in which we were and do not let us expand to any other buildings that each region has destroyed to this point.”

Although people’s choice is still working, I told Walcott Cnet that the workforce has decreased significantly and that the focus of cooperation is now on expanding internet services fiber.

Echoes throughout the country

The public -owned internet networks are an increasingly common alternative to current Internet service providers and non -profit organizations Institute of local self -accommodation Up to 450 internet networks owned by the public throughout the country, a number that excludes the Internet cooperative.

Although online cooperative is public internet networks, they are usually created by current phone and electrical facilities, and they are often in rural areas. They are The effects of facilities cooperatives were formed during the new deal. Some examples include RS cooperative fibers In Minnesota and Central Virginia Electrical Cooperative The wide range of fibers.

“The cooperatives of the wide wide range are very rare,” said Christopher Ali, a communications expert and professor in Pennsylvania. “There is only a handful of them.”

The start of the online cooperation from the zero point is not cheap or easy. According to Ali, phone and electrical cooperatives are much easier because they already have a business model and resources that can be extracted from.

Ali said: “The presence of employees on the table, the presence of labor on the table, and the company’s assets will go a long way to ensure customer satisfaction with high -quality and low -cost wide range, but the employees are also able to make a useful and generous wage.”

Initially, the choice of people considered a network owned by the municipality that they can help maintain it and provide a plan for the city, but it did not pay its fruits.

Instead, a set of grants, special financing and funds supported by the interconnected prices allowed to start Bronx, according to A. A report from the state observer in New YorkIt is one of the worst town in the city.

“I think people really saw that we are solving an important social problem. In fact, multiple important social problems,” Foreman said. “Our goal was not only to bring people to the Internet at reasonable or free prices, but also to create jobs for strikers and reach a different level of size.”

“When we were running at the highest level, and we have installed in Bronx and Nisha developments, we were able to employ digital rulers who were working with the company to help register for their friends and neighbors to obtain a service, in addition to some basic digital literacy training,” Walcott said.

The selection of people for members also offered reduced laptop computers for $ 11-another ACP-Walcott feature that the plan will eventually provide a participatory budget to the cooperative.

What happens after that?

“So, while programs like Big Apple Connect provides a temporary for free in Nycha, what happens when it stops?” Walcott said. Also, what happens to all the surrounding buildings and society in the same position … but they are still unable to reach service at those low rates? “

OTI has not announced an option to extend the Big Apple Connect program. Shortly after the pieces of this initiative, the selection of people submitted a request to OTI, under the New York Information Law, to obtain information about the Big Apple Connect contract. According to Roman, the city requested multiple accessories in the years that followed this initial request. The cooperative has since submitted an official complaint about the request of chips with the city.

“We have reached all developments of NYCH within a year of announcing the program,” an OTI spokesman told CNET in a statement.

Despite the tremendous loss of subscribers and revenues provided by the Big Apple Connect decision, Walcott and Forman are still optimistic about the future of choosing people.

“These are David’s struggles and Galot,” Foreman said. “If you do not have much money or strength, you should be smart and strategic. But the key is not to stop.”