Comment on SpaceX says states should dump fiber plans, give all grant money to Starlink
AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today 5 weeks agoThat’s what the subsidies are for. Plus, fiber does not necessarily need to be upgraded after installation (especially rural, where there’s less customers in general). It’s not copper or coax, it doesn’t have the same limits, and can usually handle terabit speeds.
But yes, without the local, state, and/or federal governments supporting it, people in rural areas won’t have a choice.
Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Yeah I’m not in favor of that, not again. The US has provided funding to ISPs to be used explicitly in expanding rural broadband access, we’ve done it on multiple occasions. Every time ISPs simply pocket the money and do nothing.
Fool me once, twice, three times…
So hey, if the US wants to have the FCC do it themselves, just hire crews to lay fiber, then sure. It’ll be inefficient and expensive, but it would say least get done. But I’m not in favor of giving a dime to the existing ISPs…
AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today 5 weeks ago
You miss my point. My original comment says as much, that the subsidies all went to big telecom, but it should have gone to local utility districts for local buildouts of fiber. I’m literally sending this message from my LUD-funded fiber that my state subsidized, and my ISP is a local company exclusive to my county’s fiber network. It’s fantastic, and what should be getting the funding instead of Comcast, Time Warner, and now SpaceX.
Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Well you’re absolutely right then, sorry for the confusion.
Nationalized fiber networks or locally managed municipal fiber has always been a winning proposition. I’ve heard so many success stories about those rollouts and the only opposition to them has come from big ISPs who are scared they’ll be replaced (because they should be). Unfortunately, that’s fine really strong opposition… Those ISPs have so much money and so much power, they’re managing to shift legislation, pass laws that make municipal fiber systems illegal (for the benefit of the consumers of course).