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That would be so wonderful, it is stupid how things are run currently and it so expensive for no good reason. I wish we had nationalized the internet providers

by Sytten 6y ago

That would be so wonderful, it is stupid how things are run currently and it so expensive for no good reason. I wish we had nationalized the internet providers a while ago. That would have allowed us to just write in the law that everybody should have access to the internet. Pretty much like electricity is run in Quebec. It works great, it's cheap and the government even makes money.

ojbyrne 6y ago
Newfoundland & Labrador aren't fans of Quebec Power: https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/top-court-upholds-hydro-quebec-deal-to-buy-cheap-energy-from-newfoundland-and-labrador-1.4160452 https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/top-court-upholds-hydro-quebec...
- Voloskaya 6y ago
  They were very fan of it when electricity prices were low and someone had to pay the enormous costs (~6.5B$ 2020 dollars) of construction with no guarantee of benefits: "At the time BRINCO was praised for having built the station with no public money from Newfoundland, while Hydro-Québec assumed nearly all the financial risk. It is unlikely that BRINCO would have found other investors willing to take on that risk.[11] In 1981 it made a good return on the investment at almost no risk.[6]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_Falls_Generating_Station#Finance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_Falls_Generating_Sta...
JoshTriplett 6y ago
> I wish we had nationalized the internet providers a while ago I don't want to see the actual ISPs become government-run, just the local fiber between users and the nearest meet-me room. Let people have a choice of who lights up that fiber, and what bandwidth and services they want, but make it possible for anyone to compete without trenching their own fiber. (And, closely related, make sure every new development has not just conduit but fiber through that conduit for every home.)
rayiner 6y ago
Like the New York subway which managed to deteriorate to collapse during a period when the City's fortunes and tax revenues were booming? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/nyregion/mta-train-delays.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/nyregion/mta-train-delays... Here in DC, the public labor unions forced the government to rehire subway inspectors who had gotten fired for falsifying inspection logs. (Public police systems in the U.S. face the same exact problem, except with far deadlier consequences.)
- lutorm 6y ago
  Sorry, but an anecdote of the government failing to do something is no more an argument it won't work than an anecdote of a company failing to do something is an argument that won't work. Especially in light of the OP's existence proof. (You only have to succeed once to prove that it can be done, but any line of failures proves nothing more than that success isn't guaranteed...)
  - rayiner 6y ago
    Two case studies of the two busiest subway systems in the country (subways being an instance of public infrastructure that we have). Do you want to talk about the public water infrastructure that’s poisoning kids with lead, or the public sewer infrastructure that’s poisoning our rivers?
sumedh 6y ago
The govt should run the pipe aka the cables not the actual internet service.

by Sytten 6y ago

ojbyrne 6y ago

Newfoundland & Labrador aren't fans of Quebec Power: https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/top-court-upholds-hydro-quebec-deal-to-buy-cheap-energy-from-newfoundland-and-labrador-1.4160452 https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/top-court-upholds-hydro-quebec...

Voloskaya 6y ago
They were very fan of it when electricity prices were low and someone had to pay the enormous costs (~6.5B$ 2020 dollars) of construction with no guarantee of benefits: "At the time BRINCO was praised for having built the station with no public money from Newfoundland, while Hydro-Québec assumed nearly all the financial risk. It is unlikely that BRINCO would have found other investors willing to take on that risk.[11] In 1981 it made a good return on the investment at almost no risk.[6]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_Falls_Generating_Station#Finance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_Falls_Generating_Sta...

JoshTriplett 6y ago

> I wish we had nationalized the internet providers a while ago I don't want to see the actual ISPs become government-run, just the local fiber between users and the nearest meet-me room. Let people have a choice of who lights up that fiber, and what bandwidth and services they want, but make it possible for anyone to compete without trenching their own fiber. (And, closely related, make sure every new development has not just conduit but fiber through that conduit for every home.)

rayiner 6y ago

Like the New York subway which managed to deteriorate to collapse during a period when the City's fortunes and tax revenues were booming? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/nyregion/mta-train-delays.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/nyregion/mta-train-delays... Here in DC, the public labor unions forced the government to rehire subway inspectors who had gotten fired for falsifying inspection logs. (Public police systems in the U.S. face the same exact problem, except with far deadlier consequences.)

lutorm 6y ago
Sorry, but an anecdote of the government failing to do something is no more an argument it won't work than an anecdote of a company failing to do something is an argument that won't work. Especially in light of the OP's existence proof. (You only have to succeed once to prove that it can be done, but any line of failures proves nothing more than that success isn't guaranteed...)
- rayiner 6y ago
  Two case studies of the two busiest subway systems in the country (subways being an instance of public infrastructure that we have). Do you want to talk about the public water infrastructure that’s poisoning kids with lead, or the public sewer infrastructure that’s poisoning our rivers?

sumedh 6y ago

The govt should run the pipe aka the cables not the actual internet service.