2 ms·

Why not just subsidize internet service to areas which are not receiving service?

• tptacek 12y ago
  Because: expensive, no money to spend on it, and a suboptimal use of funds. It might be hard for high-income message board nerds like us to see this, but cities are straining to provide basic city services: making sure roads are drivable, clearing alleys and policing vacant lots and condemned apartment buildings, getting kids to school safely, keeping the heat on at those schools. There is probably not in fact a huge demand for fiber Internet in North Lawndale or Fountain Park or Joyland. That's actually part of Rayiner's argument. Build-out requirements are seized on by activists and politicians as chits, not because residents want fiber Internet (they won't get it regardless!), but as a political weapon to wield against rich neighborhoods whose residents want to pay premium rates for fiber Internet.