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True, but their first customer is the U.S. Army which tells me this networks primary purpose is the same as the original intent of the internet itself. A mobil
by LinuxBender 6y ago
True, but their first customer is the U.S. Army which tells me this networks primary purpose is the same as the original intent of the internet itself. A mobile network that is available and reliable anywhere. Civilians usually get to do all the beta testing and provide feedback that improves the technology.
Also many of the places I have been looking at moving to don't even have POTS lines. This would fill the gap where POTS and VDSL is not available. I would certainly use VDSL if that were an option and use Starlink as a fallback in a very remote area.
- Alupis 6y ago> Also many of the places I have been looking at moving to don't even have POTS lines Where are you, if you don't mind telling. I had thought, perhaps incorrectly, that in the US it was required by law to have POTS lines run to all homes - which led to it being installed during construction.
- LinuxBender 6y agoThe land I am looking at is in the south western part of Wyoming. Could you link the law? My understanding is that once a line is run, there is a process to decom the line, but that no line is required for a home. Many homesteaders do not have phone lines or on-grid power. The only requirements I am aware of are around septic systems.
- Alupis 6y agoInteresting. I couldn't find the exact law to link to, but did turn up this WaPo article talking about 4 states starting to relax the requirement. > The universal landline requirement has been repealed in Florida, North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin. There, new homeowners have no guarantee that they could order phone service at affordable rates, consumer advocates say. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/landline-rules-frustrate-telecoms/2012/04/12/gIQAG2XvDT_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/landline-rul...
- LinuxBender 6y agoThat seems more like a plan [1] to ensure that people can get an affordable line if they want it. I can't find any laws saying that all homes require a phone line. It also appears that recent discussions in the government were about changing money allocation from pots lines to internet specifically. I suppose we would need a land developer here to chime in. [1] https://www.fcc.gov/general/universal-service https://www.fcc.gov/general/universal-service
- Alupis 6y agoI've dug everywhere and can't turn up anything definitive. The language, however, of "guaranteed access to an affordable line" does seem to imply a TELCO will have to run a line to your property at your request? Without fees (since that wouldn't be affordable)? Perhaps, in practice, this resulted in all new construction having lines run since that was cheaper than doing it ad-hoc upon demand. > I suppose we would need a land developer here to chime in. Yes, hopefully someone out there knows more! Honestly curious now, since I had always assumed this was how it was.
- awad 6y agoThere was a loophole in the various provisions created to ensure rural connectivity that allowed for companies to advantage of the fact that independent and competitive local exchange carriers were able to bill higher per minute fees than average. This led to a boom in free conference and long distance calling companies that would be spun up to terminate at one of these destinations, splitting the fee with the telco.