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$5,000 is probably fair for rural fiber but it raises the question of whether they really need fiber or not. Starlink was bidding significantly less money to pr
by wmf 3y ago
$5,000 is probably fair for rural fiber but it raises the question of whether they really need fiber or not. Starlink was bidding significantly less money to provide slower but still acceptable broadband.
- rsynnott 3y agoFibre is relatively futureproof; this would be a fairly long-term investment. In 20 years, the same fibre can likely serve the connectivity needs of 2045; it is far less clear that satellite can. In this country we messed around with various rural broadband schemes; one common solution was subsidised fixed microwave broadband. In the noughties when this was happening it was kind of "good enough", but it very much isn't now, and the rural broadband strategy has now largely shifted to fibre, rather than burning money on short-lived half-measures.
- wmf 3y agoI just wish there was a coherent strategy. The FCC awarded RDOF bids at 25 and 100 Mbps... then retroactively unawarded them? Then the administration creates a different program that's fiber-only?