Testimony of Jason Philbrook, Owner of Midcoast Internet Solutions,
in Support of LD1440.

Good Afternoon Senator Bartlett, Representative Bliss and Members of the 
Utilities and Energy Committee. I am Jason Philbrook and own and operate 
Midcoast Internet Solutions, a ten year old ISP in Rockland and 
Newcastle.

As a result of living in a very rural area lacking broadband, and from 
communicating with Internet Service Providers, Ms. Pingree has suggested 
a very practical bill. The suggestions in the bill address general and 
specific issues which would help bring broadband into more rural areas, 
and better broadband in other areas.

With regard to part 2 of the bill, easier access to town towers, water 
towers and facilities would help bring more broadband into those 
communities. There is a tendency for some towns to treat small Internet 
service providers utilizing wireless technology with the same rules as 
larger cell phone providers. Wireless ISPs are very different from cell 
phone companies in both financial capabilities and business interests. 
Many towns have ordinances meant to control and in some cases deter cell 
phone towers. These have the unintended consequence of additional 
deterrence and burden on wireless ISP networks. In many cases, some 
education and communications provide helpful guidance to towns in their 
effort to include wireless ISP systems.

Item 3 is a very practical method of reducing barriers to entry and 
business risk specifically related to serving or competing in rural 
communities. Rural towns tend to be low on the priority list of many 
broadband providers due to lower population density and fewer economies 
of scale. In larger communities, more systems for delivering broadband 
create more choices and more redundancy for consumers. This is 
especially important as people depend on internet for more and more 
daily communications and business. The FCC is very much in favor of 
outside-plant competition. A messenger wire for ISPs to share is a bare 
steel wire on the utility poles which various ISPs lash their cable or 
fiber to. This can serve both inter town links and links from the 
services providers to the customers. It also keeps towns out of the 
business of operating an ISP, but still provides a good way for towns to 
work with multiple ISPs by providing a simple and ready to use 
infrastructure above the town right-of-way.

Item 4 is important to the popularity and uptake of Internet services. 
Telecom and internet services overlap in some areas, and many people 
have had trouble or surprises comprehending their telephone bills. Phone 
companies even have trouble with phone bills. Keeping all fees included 
in the price keeps advertising and corresponding billing much easier to 
understand.  It permits easier comparison between service providers. It 
creates less distrust between ISPs and customers by ensuring clearer 
advertising and billing. I support this with one minor change. "to 
include all fees" should be changed to "to include all fees which are 
not optional". We have many options to customize the service to a person 
or businesses needs and they do not apply to the majority of customers.

Thank you very much for your time and interest in this bill.

Jason Philbrook
Midcoast Internet Solutions

Testimony or Jason Philbrook
IN Support of LD 1440
April 5, 2005