The problem is that his office sits in Wilson County, where a municipal power company has built a high-speed fiber-optic network. The barns, however, sit in Nash County. And a three-year-old state law prohibits the city of Wilson's utility from expanding its broadband network outside its home territory.

But despite his wishes, Bissette cannot extend the high-speed broadband from the office to his barns, either by wire or Wi-Fi, an upgrade that would help him monitor his sweet potatoes and tobacco.

WILSON, N.C. — Jason Bissette could throw a sweet potato from his office here in eastern North Carolina, where he and his family oversee nearly 3,000 acres, to their newest barn.


"The technology is right there across the county line," Bissette said on a recent afternoon, after plowing up a field of sweet potatoes for harvest. "If we could get the service, we could make sure the temperature is right, that air is circulating. It would make life a whole lot simpler."

In North Carolina, as in 18 other states, state laws limit municipalities from building or expanding high-speed Internet service networks. The reason behind those laws, supporters say, is to limit taxpayer exposure to projects that at times fail and for which there may be little demand.

But Tom Wheeler, the Federal Communications Commission chairman, says providing access to broadband Internet is in the public interest. And for that reason, he says, the commission can override those state laws — setting off a heated debate about the federal commission's authority over states and about whether local governments or private companies should provide the service.

Mark Cooper, research director of Consumer Federation of America, said he expected "a long and vicious fight. There is a felt need for a higher quality of service at a more reliable price. There's a perception of market failure. If consumers were not upset, they wouldn't be asking for it."


At the center of the debate are Chattanooga, Tenn., and Wilson, N.C. The two cities have petitioned the commission to invalidate their state laws. A ruling from the FCC is expected next year.

In Wilson, which had a population of just under 50,000 in 2013, the municipal power company also provides electricity for six surrounding eastern North Carolina counties. The city told the FCC that numerous residents, government agencies, businesses, and other organizations in those counties had requested its high-speed Internet service. But the state law, it said, had "the purpose and effect of prohibiting it" from offering broadband.

Will Aycock, the general manager of Greenlight, Wilson's broadband service, said drivers often stopped when they saw Greenlight trucks outside the city to ask if and when the broadband service would be available in nearby areas.

Inside its current territory, about one-third of the 21,000 households subscribe to Greenlight's broadband service. Time Warner Cable and CenturyLink also provide broadband to the county, but their services deliver slower speeds and are more expensive.

"We would probably be building tomorrow if the law changed today," Aycock said. "We're not saying that we're going to build out all of eastern Carolina or even all of our service territory tomorrow. But there are areas where we'd like to go now."

Supporters of the North Carolina law say it promotes broadband expansion, as long as private companies are put on a level playing field with public entities — being allowed the same access to telephone poles, for example.