5 ms·

Yep, in a few years these dishes will be $600 paperweights. We need real rural broadband.

Alupis 2y ago
You can have real rural broadband today. You just need to be willing to pay for installation out of pocket. When an ISP runs fiber to a new building (be it in a business park or rural farm), the math is almost entirely based on recuperating their installation costs - which they often pay for entirely out of their pocket. Your entire first contract term is usually just paying back the installation costs alone... For some perspective, at a previous building we tried to bring fiber across the street into our office. The installation costs were too expensive to make the math work - so the ISP offered to split the installation costs 50/50 instead. Our half was over $94,000. This involved directional boring and the works, to go ~200ft to the right-of-way vault and into our MPOE. One can only imagine the expense of running fiber (or any type of cable) out to the boonies. It's totally feasible - but the costs make it not palatable in reality.
- rdsnsca 2y ago
  They are actually running fiber almost everywhere in Nova Scotia, Canada. Source : https://internet.buildns.ca https://internet.buildns.ca
- ta1243 2y ago
  One wonders how we ran electricity out everywhere. Running a fibre is about the same cost as running a power cable.
  - s1artibartfast 2y ago
    Cheaper labor and fewer challenges. There is a lot of infrastructure where the cost to replace is an order of magnitude higher than the inflation adjusted original cost.
  - Sparyjerry 2y ago
    Above ground power lines make up most of the it. A pole and wire isn't that expensive. Burying is drastically more expensive.
    - ta1243 2y ago
      So run the fibre on the power line
      - Alupis 2y ago
        They do, where feasible. It's still very expensive, and the poles are owned by another entity which complicates things a bit more as well. No free lunch, as they say.
  - hattmall 2y ago
    That would be the REA, Rural Electrification Act, part of Roosevelt's new deal. Citizens could form co-ops and pay some of their own and get some grants from government. A very big number of those co-ops are now running fiber too.

You can have real rural broadband today. You just need to be willing to pay for installation out of pocket. When an ISP runs fiber to a new building (be it in a business park or rural farm), the math is almost entirely based on recuperating their installation costs - which they often pay for entirely out of their pocket. Your entire first contract term is usually just paying back the installation costs alone... For some perspective, at a previous building we tried to bring fiber across the street into our office. The installation costs were too expensive to make the math work - so the ISP offered to split the installation costs 50/50 instead. Our half was over $94,000. This involved directional boring and the works, to go ~200ft to the right-of-way vault and into our MPOE. One can only imagine the expense of running fiber (or any type of cable) out to the boonies. It's totally feasible - but the costs make it not palatable in reality.

rdsnsca 2y ago
They are actually running fiber almost everywhere in Nova Scotia, Canada. Source : https://internet.buildns.ca https://internet.buildns.ca
ta1243 2y ago
One wonders how we ran electricity out everywhere. Running a fibre is about the same cost as running a power cable.
- s1artibartfast 2y ago
  Cheaper labor and fewer challenges. There is a lot of infrastructure where the cost to replace is an order of magnitude higher than the inflation adjusted original cost.
- Sparyjerry 2y ago
  Above ground power lines make up most of the it. A pole and wire isn't that expensive. Burying is drastically more expensive.
  - ta1243 2y ago
    So run the fibre on the power line
    - Alupis 2y ago
      They do, where feasible. It's still very expensive, and the poles are owned by another entity which complicates things a bit more as well. No free lunch, as they say.
- hattmall 2y ago
  That would be the REA, Rural Electrification Act, part of Roosevelt's new deal. Citizens could form co-ops and pay some of their own and get some grants from government. A very big number of those co-ops are now running fiber too.