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> The digital divide issue is much more cheaply solved by subsidizing wireless service for poor people. That is completely wrong. Wireless is completely useles

> The digital divide issue is much more cheaply solved by subsidizing wireless service for poor people. That is completely wrong. Wireless is completely useless in its current form. I burn through 4-5 TB of traffic per month. Nothing beats wire to the home. Municipal owned last miles funded with property taxes is very nice way to redistribute some income, create work and provide ISPs with incentive to do their stuff. And ISPs just hook to them. I think that last miles connections should not be owned by other than the connected property's owner or society.

rayiner 12y ago
> Wireless is completely useless in its current form. We're talking about subsidies to the poor to access the informational content of the internet. The vast majority of that is text or low-resolution video. I don't think it's a good use of public money to subsidize high-bandwidth games and entertainment. > Municipal owned last miles funded with property taxes is very nice way to redistribute some income Municipalities are already facing the prospect of having to hike property taxes to pay for existing obligations. Shit, e.g. Chicago won't even pay to replace all the lead pipes it put in decades ago which are leaching poison into peoples' drinking water! There's so many higher priorities that are underfunded before "multiple Netflix streams for everyone."
- venomsnake 12y ago
  > We're talking about subsidies to the poor to access the informational content of the internet. I don't think it's a good use of public money to subsidize high-bandwidth games and entertainment. Have you seen the size of Visual Studio lately. Or photo shop. Or Linux installs. Or their ability to have a normal cloud backup.
  - rayiner 12y ago
    Poor people can afford Visual Studio or Photoshop? Cloud backup for what, so they can access their data from home or work?
    - venomsnake 12y ago
      Both VS and Creative Suite have free/trial version. Cloud backup for not losing accumulated photos/videos and memories. Of course a poor guy would have great use of all those online courses he will access trough wifi, if he cannot obtain the needed software.
      - rayiner 12y ago
        VS Express 2010 is a 800 meg download. So 15-20 minute download on LTE, for something you'll use for months or years. Even 2013 is only a one-to-two hour download over LTE. It'd be far cheaper for the government to just pay for the LTE bandwidth for the small number of people who will avail themselves of these things than to build fiber out to everyone hoping a few will do so.
  - EpicEng 12y ago
    So...it takes longer to download? Who is in such a rush to download an IDE that they will be significantly disadvantaged of they can't do it in under 15 minutes?
vxNsr 12y ago
You're an edge case, even in my home which has 7+ users who stream and torrent we rarely hit 1tb. (What I'm about to say is gonna be unpopular, but:) Most importantly, there is no reason why the rich should subsidize the poor's porn and movie addiction. If you want those types of amenities make more money and make it lucrative for a company to bring you the services that they require.

rayiner 12y ago

> Wireless is completely useless in its current form. We're talking about subsidies to the poor to access the informational content of the internet. The vast majority of that is text or low-resolution video. I don't think it's a good use of public money to subsidize high-bandwidth games and entertainment. > Municipal owned last miles funded with property taxes is very nice way to redistribute some income Municipalities are already facing the prospect of having to hike property taxes to pay for existing obligations. Shit, e.g. Chicago won't even pay to replace all the lead pipes it put in decades ago which are leaching poison into peoples' drinking water! There's so many higher priorities that are underfunded before "multiple Netflix streams for everyone."

venomsnake 12y ago
> We're talking about subsidies to the poor to access the informational content of the internet. I don't think it's a good use of public money to subsidize high-bandwidth games and entertainment. Have you seen the size of Visual Studio lately. Or photo shop. Or Linux installs. Or their ability to have a normal cloud backup.
- rayiner 12y ago
  Poor people can afford Visual Studio or Photoshop? Cloud backup for what, so they can access their data from home or work?
  - venomsnake 12y ago
    Both VS and Creative Suite have free/trial version. Cloud backup for not losing accumulated photos/videos and memories. Of course a poor guy would have great use of all those online courses he will access trough wifi, if he cannot obtain the needed software.
    - rayiner 12y ago
      VS Express 2010 is a 800 meg download. So 15-20 minute download on LTE, for something you'll use for months or years. Even 2013 is only a one-to-two hour download over LTE. It'd be far cheaper for the government to just pay for the LTE bandwidth for the small number of people who will avail themselves of these things than to build fiber out to everyone hoping a few will do so.
- EpicEng 12y ago
  So...it takes longer to download? Who is in such a rush to download an IDE that they will be significantly disadvantaged of they can't do it in under 15 minutes?

vxNsr 12y ago

You're an edge case, even in my home which has 7+ users who stream and torrent we rarely hit 1tb. (What I'm about to say is gonna be unpopular, but:) Most importantly, there is no reason why the rich should subsidize the poor's porn and movie addiction. If you want those types of amenities make more money and make it lucrative for a company to bring you the services that they require.