{"id":104308,"date":"2019-07-26T11:01:33","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T15:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=104308"},"modified":"2019-08-15T12:01:00","modified_gmt":"2019-08-15T16:01:00","slug":"brindisi-fights-for-rural-broadband-and-holds-cable-companies-accountable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=104308","title":{"rendered":"Brindisi fights for rural broadband and holds cable companies accountable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"220\" height=\"220\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Rep-Anthony-Brindisi-Congress.jpg?resize=220%2C220&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-102245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Rep-Anthony-Brindisi-Congress.jpg?w=220&amp;ssl=1 220w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Rep-Anthony-Brindisi-Congress.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 220px) 100vw, 220px\" \/><figcaption>Rep. Anthony Brindisi<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Congressman testifies before House Energy and Commerce Committee about need for broadband in rural areas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Brindisi: When Upstate New Yorkers call their cable company, they get no help\u2014only excuses<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Congressman Anthony Brindisi (NY-22) testified before the House\nEnergy and Commerce Committee about rural broadband and the need for more accountability\nfrom big cable companies. Brindisi, a longtime advocate for rural broadband, urged\nthe committee to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen I hear cable executives talk about \u20185G access\u2019 and \u201810-gigabit\nconnections,\u2019 I am left shaking my head,\u201d Brindisi said. \u201cWorst of all, I have heard\nfrom countless constituents who have seen their cable bills go up month after month\nas the service just gets worse and worse. I have heard stories from families who\nsee their connections grind to a halt at home when they try to get online. And when\nthey contact their cable company, they get no help \u2013 only excuses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brindisi outlined a plan to improve broadband access across the\ncountry and hold cable companies accountable. He urged Congress to gather more accurate\ndata,&nbsp; maintain the FCC\u2019s Universal Service\nFund programs, and hold cable companies accountable by passing his <a href=\"https:\/\/brindisi.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/first-bill-brindisi-fights-upstate-new-york-consumers-introduces-legislation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Transparency for Cable Consumers Act<\/a>.Brindisi\u2019s bill, the first\none he introduced in Congress, would hold cable companies accountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under Brindisi\u2019s Transparency for Cable Consumers Act, if a cable\nor internet company is fined by a state Public Service Commission, it would be required\nto report:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The number of cable and broadband internet customers\nin each county;<\/li><li>The average cable bill and broadband internet bill\namounts in each county;<\/li><li>A full accounting of all fees charged customers in\neach county; and<\/li><li>The average broadband internet speeds delivered in\neach county.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this year, Brindisi held <a href=\"https:\/\/brindisi.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/brindisi-meets-upstate-new-yorkers-struggling-cable-rate-hikes-slow-internet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a roundtable in Binghamton<\/a> to hear from consumers about the\nlack of broadband in the area.&nbsp; Additionally,\nBrindisi <a href=\"https:\/\/brindisi.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/video-brindisi-passes-amendment-help-expand-rural-broadband-access\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">secured an amendment<\/a> to the Save the Internet Act of 2019 that\nwould help expand rural broadband access for Upstate New Yorkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brindisi expressed a willingness to work with both parties to\ndeliver for rural communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI have been fortunate to work with many Members of this Committee\n\u2013 Republicans and Democrats &#8212; on these priorities this year,\u201d Brindisi said. \u201cExpanding\naccess to high-speed internet remains a task as large as rural electrification 100\nyears ago, and I look forward to continuing to work with this Committee to ensure\nevery home in rural America is connected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brindisi\u2019s entire testimony can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OfjfHbqE59M&amp;feature=youtu.be\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congressman testifies before House Energy and Commerce Committee about need for broadband in rural areas Brindisi: When Upstate New Yorkers call their cable company, they get no help\u2014only excuses Congressman Anthony Brindisi (NY-22) testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee about rural broadband and the need for more accountability from big cable companies. Brindisi, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23811,23814,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-state","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-r8o","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Rep-Anthony-Brindisi-Congress.jpg?fit=220%2C220&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/102245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}