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> It was technically possible to wire up entire countries and continents for electricity and phone service, so I doubt there are any technical hurdles in doing

> It was technically possible to wire up entire countries and continents for electricity and phone service, so I doubt there are any technical hurdles in doing the same with fibre. France is aiming at 100% fiber coverage. I spent some time in a very remote, very rural part of France, far from the closest village... And I had fiber to the home (2 Gbps down // 600 Mbps up).

throw0101c 3y ago
> […] far from the closest village... And I had fiber to the home (2 Gbps down // 600 Mbps up). You were probably not surprised that the dwelling you were in had electricity. I think at some point having fibre should also be as unsurprising.
- smeej 3y ago
  Interestingly, there are a lot of places near me in northern New England where I genuinely am surprised to find electricity (or plumbing, for that matter) in a house. Some places are just that hard to get to.
  - throw0101a 3y ago
    IMHO, if you can string a copper wire for power (and POTS) you can string a fibre. It's just a matter of us deciding to wire things up like was done in the 20th century.
    - smeej 3y ago
      Sure. These really remote places generally have some way they're generating their own power, which is why I'm surprised to find it.
    - zbrozek 3y ago
      We need to figure out how to get costs and permit times down if we want to build stuff again.
- ls612 3y ago
  It took 40-50 years after the introduction of electricity in the late 1800s for electricity to reach that point of penetration.
  - throw0101c 3y ago
    > It took 40-50 years after the introduction of electricity in the late 1800s for electricity to reach that point of penetration. For the first few decades it was not mainstream. The US passed (under FDR) a law in 1936: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_Electrification_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_Electrification_Act How long did it take after that point? I'm curious in how quickly conscious policy choices can be made into reality.

throw0101c 3y ago

> […] far from the closest village... And I had fiber to the home (2 Gbps down // 600 Mbps up). You were probably not surprised that the dwelling you were in had electricity. I think at some point having fibre should also be as unsurprising.

smeej 3y ago
Interestingly, there are a lot of places near me in northern New England where I genuinely am surprised to find electricity (or plumbing, for that matter) in a house. Some places are just that hard to get to.
- throw0101a 3y ago
  IMHO, if you can string a copper wire for power (and POTS) you can string a fibre. It's just a matter of us deciding to wire things up like was done in the 20th century.
  - smeej 3y ago
    Sure. These really remote places generally have some way they're generating their own power, which is why I'm surprised to find it.
  - zbrozek 3y ago
    We need to figure out how to get costs and permit times down if we want to build stuff again.
ls612 3y ago
It took 40-50 years after the introduction of electricity in the late 1800s for electricity to reach that point of penetration.
- throw0101c 3y ago
  > It took 40-50 years after the introduction of electricity in the late 1800s for electricity to reach that point of penetration. For the first few decades it was not mainstream. The US passed (under FDR) a law in 1936: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_Electrification_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_Electrification_Act How long did it take after that point? I'm curious in how quickly conscious policy choices can be made into reality.