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> People talk about treating the internet "like a utility." But much of the county I live in doesn't have public water/sewer [...] The Internet is more like el

• rayiner 9y ago
  The Internet is much more like water/sewer. If you're not on the public water/sewer, you can always dig a well/build a septic system. Likewise, even in Saguache County, you can get satellite internet (12 down, 3 up). Yes, it's more expensive and more limiting, but so is building a well/septic system (both together can be $20,000+ easily). With electricity, it's highly impractical not to be on the grid (though that's changing these days with wind/solar). Yes, you could run wired internet along the power poles, but who is going to pay for it? The electric grid was built during the Depression when labor was cheap. You couldn't do it today. (Just like NYC built its subway system at the turn of the 20th century, but the cost would be prohibitive today). And it'd be one thing if these people were cut off from job applications/wikipedia/etc. But spending a bunch of money to wire up rural places that can get satellite/wireless seems like a huge waste of public money to me when there are starving kids, etc.