6 ms·
Let’s not forget that the real issue here is that American ISPs are a complete monopoly by Comcast and AT&T, companies made of pure greed. Small end sub ISPs ha
by ilovecaching 8y ago
Let’s not forget that the real issue here is that American ISPs are a complete monopoly by Comcast and AT&T, companies made of pure greed. Small end sub ISPs have to claw for every strand of dark fiber. Google really shouldn’t be the answer though. We need to demand that politicians address the issue in the upcoming election before they start looking at the Silicon Valley giants.
- ianai 8y agoProbably the mayors in the lineup would be most aware of this need.
- vonmoltke 8y ago> Let’s not forget that the real issue here is that American ISPs are a complete monopoly by Comcast and AT&T It doesn't change much, but you left out Verizon and Spectrum.
- usefulcat 8y agoTrue, but in any given market you'll be lucky to have even two of the above as competitors, let alone 3 or more.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- onetimemanytime 8y agoOn the other hand, they laid the cables first, a very expensive undertaking.
- ilovecaching 8y agoThanks to huge government subsidies that they squandered. They have promised time and time again to build better infra for hundreds of millions in tax payer dollars and we still have total crap. People who work for them are morally bankrupt.
- kortilla 8y agoMaybe unrestricted government handouts aren’t the best way to stimulate a market...
- newsgremlin 8y agoBut the government doesn't own the lines, so unless they feel like nationalizing the utilities that's the only thing they can do. And I'm sure the lobbyists are making sure that doesn't happen too... It's a dirty racket for passing a lot of money between few hands.
- colechristensen 8y agoThe best ISP in the country is in Minneapolis. $70/mo for symmetric 1 Gbps https://fiber.usinternet.com/ https://fiber.usinternet.com/ They lay their own fiber terminating at your home and have been steadily covering the metro area.
- scruple 8y agoDoes this scale to other metro areas, if other initiatives could be funded and started? If so, why isn't it happening in those other metros? If not, what makes the Twin Cities special?
- colechristensen 8y agoIt went relatively slowly and started in sections of the city with the right customer demographics. The local government which is a big part of the equation seems to be generally a little more reasonable and less corrupt than is average. I am speculating it is capital intensive and not enormously profitable, and it is slow.
- rayiner 8y ago> It went relatively slowly and started in sections of the city with the right customer demographics. The local government which is a big part of the equation seems to be generally a little more reasonable and less corrupt than is average. That is also how Stockholm built out its fiber network. And, by the way, it is illegal in almost every city, because it would result in wealthier neighborhoods getting fiber first. That is the reason, for example, why Baltimore doesn’t have FiOS whole almost the whole rest of Maryland does.
- njepa 8y ago> That is also how Stockholm built out its fiber network. Stokab also had various mandates to connect or cooperate with schools, government, student housing, public(ly owned) housing and other entities. You would often get fiber in the equivalent "the projects" before someone in an affluent co-op. Without this I am not sure how well the approach would have worked.
- rkangel 8y agoThe (next) brightest hope for something changing here is Starlink. I'm sure that Comcast and and AT&T will throw up every legal roadblock that they can, but universal 1 Gbps internet availability could really shake things up.