Comment on California Bill Would Require That AT&T And Comcast Make Broadband Affordable For Poor People
muusemuuse@lemm.ee 1 day ago
This is not the way to do it not private enterprises screwing people, set up your own municipal broadband service. When they lower prices to compete in the areas you offer it, you then pass a law to make those prices apply to the entire state.
midori_matcha@lemmy.world 1 day ago
It’s prohibitively difficult to establish municipal broadband. Much, if not all of the infrastructure used for internet in the US is privately owned.
Hundreds of billions of tax dollars were once given to these ISPs to establish fiber networks all over the land, and it’s still sparsely used outside of major cities-- in favor of milking older copper lines with cable/DSL for as long as possible. None of them are working on expanding access or improving infrastructure, simply because they don’t find it profitable to do so.
The ISPs have carved out their own little fiefdoms across counties and regions, and effectively act as a cartel with all of the steadily increasing prices and no actual competition in their territories.
The way it’s set up now, there has to be lengthy lawsuits and decades of legal teeth-pulling for the state to take it all back for public broadband. Aggressive ISP lobbying has made it all practically impossible with restrictive laws and outright bans. These little wins now are merely temporary concessions that the telecom mob will be certain to undo as soon as they inject another corporate shill into the government ranks.
muusemuuse@lemm.ee 1 day ago
I’m in a red state and they’ve pulled it off in a neighboring city. It’s can be done and has been done.
desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 hours ago
The requirements for it are (as far as I can tell) met in the areas where the majority of Americans live (NOT necessarily the majority of "city"s).