4 ms·

I live only 100 miles north of Boston, in a fairly "wealthy" state (New Hampshire) and my only option is satellite. That's just a sad state of the infrastructur

by robg 18y ago

I live only 100 miles north of Boston, in a fairly "wealthy" state (New Hampshire) and my only option is satellite. That's just a sad state of the infrastructure. Furthermore, broadband speeds vary from country to country: http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/Images/commentarynews/broadbandspeedchart.jpg http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/Images/commentarynews/bro... It's not just penetration that we lag behind. It's speed too. As for density, Canada's a fairly big place, and they have a bigger, faster broadband (see my link and yours) even as their GDP is 10% of ours: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

ciscoriordan 18y ago
Whereabouts in NH? I'm from Bow, and wasn't aware of other New Hampshirites on Hacker News. I had Comcast cable and I feel like most of the families in my town with young people in the households did too.
- robg 18y ago
  Cool! We're in Newbury. We'll be moving closer to Boston in the next few months, though.
  - robg 18y ago
    Should have said too that some folks in Newbury have cable. We're literally one mile off the main road, and five miles from I-89 (a major highway). and don't.
jmtame 18y ago
Ah yes. We call that technique "redlining." Compliments of your lobbyists representing AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon. Special thanks goes to HR 5252.
Goronmon 18y ago
Blame Verizon for "selling" the lines to Fairpoint. http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/81006 http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/81006 And they still haven't completely taken over the lines yet. The last I heard the final switch was scheduled for January 2009. http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Fairpoint-Ready-For-January-Verizon-Switch-Over-99043 http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Fairpoint-Ready-For-Janua... Doesn't exactly bode well for the area up here. Though I'm not sure sticking with Verizon would have been any better. They pretty much had given up on expanding the infrastructure in northern New England.
breck 18y ago
"That's just a sad state of the infrastructure." Why is this sad? It seems pretty logical to me. I don't think it would make sense to build expensive (roads/sewers/cable/etc) to every far out node.
- Retric 18y ago
  Roads are an order of magnitude more expensive than high speed internet and we still ran them to just about every home in the US. As to sewers a septic field works but a local LAN is just not the Internet.
  - anamax 18y ago
    > Roads are an order of magnitude more expensive than high speed internet and we still ran them to just about every home in the US. What kind of roads are we talking about? I know lots of folks whose home is served by a gravel or dirt road. And the "we" that ran them is often the folks whose houses they run by.
- olefoo 18y ago
  That's why government intervention is being discussed. It may not be economically feasible for everyone to be connected to the internet at affordable prices. But there is a big public benefit to be gained if everyone is connected and online. Now die-hard "anarcho-capitalists" will say that government has no role in the economy whatsoever, but the history of most of the technological systems that make our society what it is say otherwise. Postal Service, Railroads, mapping, electricity and telephones were all limited in functionality and restricted in geographical reach until government intervention supported near-universal adoption.
  - breck 18y ago
    "But there is a big public benefit to be gained if everyone is connected and online." Is there? Seems to me 90+ odd percent would be good enough.
    - 18y ago

by robg 18y ago

ciscoriordan 18y ago

Whereabouts in NH? I'm from Bow, and wasn't aware of other New Hampshirites on Hacker News. I had Comcast cable and I feel like most of the families in my town with young people in the households did too.

robg 18y ago
Cool! We're in Newbury. We'll be moving closer to Boston in the next few months, though.
- robg 18y ago
  Should have said too that some folks in Newbury have cable. We're literally one mile off the main road, and five miles from I-89 (a major highway). and don't.

jmtame 18y ago

Ah yes. We call that technique "redlining." Compliments of your lobbyists representing AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon. Special thanks goes to HR 5252.

Goronmon 18y ago

Blame Verizon for "selling" the lines to Fairpoint. http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/81006 http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/81006 And they still haven't completely taken over the lines yet. The last I heard the final switch was scheduled for January 2009. http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Fairpoint-Ready-For-January-Verizon-Switch-Over-99043 http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Fairpoint-Ready-For-Janua... Doesn't exactly bode well for the area up here. Though I'm not sure sticking with Verizon would have been any better. They pretty much had given up on expanding the infrastructure in northern New England.

breck 18y ago

"That's just a sad state of the infrastructure." Why is this sad? It seems pretty logical to me. I don't think it would make sense to build expensive (roads/sewers/cable/etc) to every far out node.

Retric 18y ago
Roads are an order of magnitude more expensive than high speed internet and we still ran them to just about every home in the US. As to sewers a septic field works but a local LAN is just not the Internet.
- anamax 18y ago
  > Roads are an order of magnitude more expensive than high speed internet and we still ran them to just about every home in the US. What kind of roads are we talking about? I know lots of folks whose home is served by a gravel or dirt road. And the "we" that ran them is often the folks whose houses they run by.
olefoo 18y ago
That's why government intervention is being discussed. It may not be economically feasible for everyone to be connected to the internet at affordable prices. But there is a big public benefit to be gained if everyone is connected and online. Now die-hard "anarcho-capitalists" will say that government has no role in the economy whatsoever, but the history of most of the technological systems that make our society what it is say otherwise. Postal Service, Railroads, mapping, electricity and telephones were all limited in functionality and restricted in geographical reach until government intervention supported near-universal adoption.
- breck 18y ago
  "But there is a big public benefit to be gained if everyone is connected and online." Is there? Seems to me 90+ odd percent would be good enough.
  - 18y ago