5 ms·

The US is 9,833,520 km2 much of it sparsely populated. Not only is it inherently difficult its impossible to resolve in any reasonable duration of time. If we w

The US is 9,833,520 km2 much of it sparsely populated. Not only is it inherently difficult its impossible to resolve in any reasonable duration of time. If we wanted to drive a bit more competition there was a law many years ago forcing ISP to share their lines with the competition at cost. This is actually practical and able to be implemented in the short term. Another thing we can do is repeal all the local laws restricting municipal broadband.

robocat 3y ago
The US is big is such a tired argument. An individual state can often implement a lot without needing federal law changes. > sparsely populated Oregon is about the same size, population and geography as my country New Zealand. Within a decade New Zealand (poorer country) has managed to roll out fibre to 85% of households using a public-private partnership model. Starlink serves rural areas.
- michaelmrose 3y ago
  We did the same thing but the ISP just kept the money instead of actually laying fiber. In any case Oregon is about 3 million people in the portland metro and a million people spread over 90,000 sq miles or 10 per sq mile or about 4 per sq km Portland is already working on municipal fiber as it should but keep in mind that US government projects a bit like the Russian military a lot of money gets soaked up between budget and result. A more competitive market is something we might if we do well achieve in the next few decades. Net Neutrality helps now and will actually still be virtuous if we can move forward in other respects.
  - robocat 3y ago
    > In any case Oregon is about 3 million people in the portland metro and a million people spread over 90,000 sq miles or 10 per sq mile or about 4 per sq km NZ is more closely comparible than you are suggesting. The majority of NZ is in cities with the other ~1 million[1] spread over 103,500 sq mi. Density is a distribution, and cherry picking a single density number is nearly always very misleading. Oregon is often a fine comparison with New Zealand. Except I wouldn't want to try to compare which government is more functional (we have our serious problems too). As a generalisation, while it is difficult to compare the whole of the USA with a specific country, it is often enlightening to find a comparible state. [1] 3.4 million in top 20 cities or 3.7 million if including their greater urban areas, population 5.2 million.
  - gruez 3y ago
    >We did the same thing but the ISP just kept the money instead of actually laying fiber. Source? Surely the money came with strings attached?
    - xboxnolifes 3y ago
      Because, among other things, ISPs had regional monopolies, and the strings were poorly thought out.

robocat 3y ago

The US is big is such a tired argument. An individual state can often implement a lot without needing federal law changes. > sparsely populated Oregon is about the same size, population and geography as my country New Zealand. Within a decade New Zealand (poorer country) has managed to roll out fibre to 85% of households using a public-private partnership model. Starlink serves rural areas.

michaelmrose 3y ago
We did the same thing but the ISP just kept the money instead of actually laying fiber. In any case Oregon is about 3 million people in the portland metro and a million people spread over 90,000 sq miles or 10 per sq mile or about 4 per sq km Portland is already working on municipal fiber as it should but keep in mind that US government projects a bit like the Russian military a lot of money gets soaked up between budget and result. A more competitive market is something we might if we do well achieve in the next few decades. Net Neutrality helps now and will actually still be virtuous if we can move forward in other respects.
- robocat 3y ago
  > In any case Oregon is about 3 million people in the portland metro and a million people spread over 90,000 sq miles or 10 per sq mile or about 4 per sq km NZ is more closely comparible than you are suggesting. The majority of NZ is in cities with the other ~1 million[1] spread over 103,500 sq mi. Density is a distribution, and cherry picking a single density number is nearly always very misleading. Oregon is often a fine comparison with New Zealand. Except I wouldn't want to try to compare which government is more functional (we have our serious problems too). As a generalisation, while it is difficult to compare the whole of the USA with a specific country, it is often enlightening to find a comparible state. [1] 3.4 million in top 20 cities or 3.7 million if including their greater urban areas, population 5.2 million.
- gruez 3y ago
  >We did the same thing but the ISP just kept the money instead of actually laying fiber. Source? Surely the money came with strings attached?
  - xboxnolifes 3y ago
    Because, among other things, ISPs had regional monopolies, and the strings were poorly thought out.