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Comcast, Charter dominate US; telcos “abandoned rural America,” report says
- AngryData 8y agoI live in a rural area, its a paved road but still fairly rural. However, 2 miles down the road we got a main fiber trunk, 3 miles the other way we have a fiber line that feeds all the local cell towers, meanwhile I can't even get DSL. I have to use mobile data (which is especially garbage consider we are surrounded by forests of 100 foot tall trees), and despite people getting nearly every person down my road and surrounding roads to sign petitions for internet service and agreeing to all sign up for any internet services available to us (they even went so far as to start collecting extraneous payments from people living here to install the equipment) they changed their mind after dragging their feet for over a decade and left us to rot so they can invest into competing urban markets.
- kayfox 8y agoFrom a historical perspective this is unsurprising, as the federal governemnt had to develop programs and regulations (Universal Service, Rural Electrification) to push for or subsidize service to the rural parts of the United States. To get competitive broadband service in rural areas, they will need to do this again.