this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2023
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I am with you on rural America getting the short end of the Internet stick! It's just that historically we've given ISPs over $400 billion dollars and they didn't hold up their end of the bargain:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-book-of-broken-promis_b_5839394
Giving them more money isn't going to solve the problem. We're at that phase of the game where we need to stop letting them scam us and just do it ourselves. We already build our own roads which is vastly more complicated and requires much more money than laying fiber. If we can make interstates we can lay down fiber optic cable.
We can charge ISPs for the privilege to use it and make different ISPs compete on the same physical network. That's how it works in many countries and it's a perfectly legitimate way to make ISPs incredibly angry which I think we can all agree would be an ideal outcome. If they don't like it we can set up a time next week between 10AM and 4PM to wait for us to show up to discuss. When we don't show up we will make them call to reschedule π
Rural broadband access is abysmal. We moved from a large suburb to a rural area in 2020, and trying to get reliable high-speed internet has been the biggest struggle of all.
Fixed wireless has been a godsend if it's around you. I'm rural but sitting one airborne hop from backbone fiber. I can vouch its the same tech as the futures trades ride downtown.
In IL there's a few providers that spun up in the wake of a tornado. Its not competitive with what I could get in the suburbs, but its better by far than the wireline out here.
This is not universal, though. For example I live in the sticks and am posting this from AT&T Fiber, 2.5G/2.5G
True. There are localized pockets, but theyβre not common. Iβm super jealous, though! :-)
Community-owned broadband is a fun legal zone. Some States are moving to dismantle it, some others to protect it, all while most are mute on it.
Is a muninipality legally entitled to set up its own broadband network? Doesn't matter what you think, the telcos are spending their lobby dollars to prevent it where it has traction. Same for Tribal areas too.
We can talk about "incredibly angry" here: the telco isn't the internet I worked a lifetime to build. Demand more. #
Here in #FascistFlorida, municipal broadband is prohibited by state law.