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I daresay, it's even worse than that. Your neighbors are actively fighting against the installation of infrastructure that would enable faster internet speeds.
by cbhl 7y ago
I daresay, it's even worse than that. Your neighbors are actively fighting against the installation of infrastructure that would enable faster internet speeds.
AT&T tried to bring FTTN to San Francisco years ago, but neighbors decried the "ugly" green boxes that would run down the street. Boxes that are standard in literally any suburb with fast internet.
There are limited parts of the bay area with gigabit fiber, including some large apartment buildings. The rent is higher in those places, of course.
- bluejekyll 7y agoAT&T can put those under the ground. They are ugly. And they take up already limited sidewalk space in many areas.
- plussed_reader 7y agoDo you want to put up taxes for additional trenching, nevermind the overhead associated with the different agencies when digging is involved?
- bluejekyll 7y agoPut them in the street, take up parking spaces from cars. The attitude that people don’t deserve the same guarantees as cars is a bad one.
- wizzwizz4 7y agoPeople will drive into them.
- UnpossibleJim 7y agoTaxes paid for the initial cost of not only most of the infrastructure of internet but also cable. This was "paid back" at zero interest loan payments over dozens of years, in most municipalities.
- jessriedel 7y agoIt's so crazy because if you have ever seen the same neighborhood with and without power lines, the difference is dramatic. Power lines are horrendously ugly. But after people got use to them, they can barely be bothered to pay 10% extra on their power bill for the lines to be buried. Likewise, people would instantly forget about the green boxes after a few year.
- mr_toad 7y ago> Power lines are horrendously ugly. So is the 20 foot wide expanse of dirty tar next to the power lines. But people have lived with that all their lives, and barely notice it.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- mulmen 7y agoI’m not sure what you are suggesting here. Power lines can be buried but what’s the alternative to residential streets?
- gumby 7y agoWalkable,neighbourhoods designed for people rather than having them designed for cars first.
- mulmen 7y agoOk but even pedestrian first residential neighborhoods need roads. It’s not like power lines where you can completely get rid of them.
- tobylane 7y agoThose few roads can be tiny and out of the way, see this Utrecht redevelopment. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/15/forward-thinking-utrecht-builds-car-free-district-for-12000-people https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/15/forward-thinki...
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- coffeefirst 7y agoI never understand the "green box is ugly" argument. Yes it is. Can we not work out a deal where a local artist paints it and puts a statue on top. It needs to be a box with stuff in it and access panels, the outer aesthetic doesn't matter and can conform to local tastes.
- TaylorAlexander 7y agoIt’s a good point. Sebastopol CA is full of cute metal statues up and down the front yards of homes and entrances to businesses. A local artist makes them. It’s cute. You’d think we could do that with infrastructure too.