> When the city runs things, prices become a social justice issue, which forces prices too low. [...] If 50 Mbps is seen as “good enough” by voters, there will

> When the city runs things, prices become a social justice issue, which forces prices too low. [...] If 50 Mbps is seen as “good enough” by voters, there will be a huge incentive to do the minimum required to hit that speed in order to drive down the price. This is demonstrated by Albany, NY, where I live. [1] > [Mayor] Sheehan said Albany must create a policy that could move this forward, with a focus on it being affordable to residents. > “We would provide a certain bandwidth to every home at no charge,” she said. The study we commissioned[2] focuses on providing free low-speed access to everyone with an option to upgrade to "high-speed" (>= 100 Mb). The idea of actually laying fiber to everyone's homes is considered, but mostly just to show how unappealingly expensive it is, especially when only a small minority of people will pay for the upgraded service. [1] http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Albany-pursuing-wireless-internet-for-all-12174402.php http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Albany-pursuing-wirel... [2] http://timesunion.com/file/235/4/2354-Broadband%20feasbility%20study.pdf http://timesunion.com/file/235/4/2354-Broadband%20feasbility...