And pull themselves up by their bootstraps as usual?
the sad bit is, wireline internet providers could sell $30 permonth highspeed internet and still make money at that lower rate and without subsidies.
Republicans slam broadband discounts for poor people, threaten to kill program | Ars Technica
Submitted 11 months ago by fne8w2ah@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
ares35@kbin.social 11 months ago
yOya@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Every penny that goes to social programs to help the poor is a penny that isn’t going to corporations and their billionaire donors. Of course they want to cancel it, along with social security, medicare and public libraries.
therealjcdenton@lemmy.zip 11 months ago
MORE GOD BLESSED MILITARY GROWTH
Carvex@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Always have money for war and bloodshed
markr@lemmy.world 11 months ago
And whenever they have control, more tax cuts for the rich.
Iseja@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Damn 30$ discount. How much do you pay in the states for broadband access. I pay about 40$ each month for a 500/500 connection.
admiralteal@kbin.social 11 months ago
In a city a connection like that is probably going to be in the area of $60 to $100. I pay $80 all in for a similar fiber connection.
Outside of a city you just aren't going to get it.
casmael@startrek.website 11 months ago
Jesus Christ that all sounds terrible
KpntAutismus@lemmy.world 11 months ago
That’s germany levels of shitty internet infrastructure. we pay 20€ for 100/60
Vyvanse@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Just got fiber in my area of the US, it’s $60 for 500/500, or $80 for 1000/1000
ares35@kbin.social 11 months ago
paying almost $90 now, here, for supposedly 300mbps that barely ever gets past 60. there are people near me that pay about the same for 1mbps or less dsl (just outside of cable's territory, so dsl is all they have)
fourfouroneone@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I pay $100 a month in a rural area for 12down/500kup by bridging two DSL connections, the only thing I can get in the woods. I can’t watch Hulu and browse the Internet at the same time.
KpntAutismus@lemmy.world 11 months ago
just so i get that right, you pay 100$/month for 12mbit/s down?
8bitguy@kbin.social 11 months ago
That goes for about $70 here, in a competitive, urban market. $50 for 300.
WHYAREWEALLCAPS@kbin.social 11 months ago
Wow. I'm in a competitive exurb market and I'm paying $60 for 1.5 Gbps. It's $25 for 300. $40 for 600.
Iseja@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Damn, this is in a small town in the most northern parts of Sweden and the apartment building is locked down to only one supplier aswell.
gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
When I lived in Sacramento, CA I got 1gbps down, 15 Mbps up for like 100 bucks
An hour out into the rural areas and I pay 120 for 100 Mbps both ways ON FIBER
It’s infuriating
bran_buckler@kbin.social 11 months ago
I’m in an urban area where my apartment building is wired for only one ISP. $92 a month, the speed test I just did was 400 down, 20 up.
therealjcdenton@lemmy.zip 11 months ago
Wasn’t there a debate awhile ago that internet is a necessity rather than a luxury?
BaardFigur@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I would say it’s neither a necessity, nor a luxury. It’s a necessity for for fitting in, in a modern society, though, for sure.
nexas_XIII@lemm.ee 11 months ago
With the amount of companies requiring you to fill out applications online, emails being the main method of communication before a phone interview, and the amount of people doing virtual interviews; I would say it absolutely is a necessity to not just fitting into a modern society, but being a part of one.
TheHotze@lemmy.world 11 months ago
It’s not always a necessity, but the opportunity cost of not having Internet can prevent you from meeting other necessities. For example, a lot of jobs require Internet to apply. Not getting a better job might mean you can’t afford food or housing.
uid0gid0@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Just take it out of the oil and gas subsidies.
markr@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Both parties are the same!
donescobar@lemmy.world 11 months ago
It’s what Republican Jesus would do, fuck the poor. We could fund Israel’s war with all that wasteful spending!
KpntAutismus@lemmy.world 11 months ago
brainrot-level take incoming: jesus was a jew, it’s obvious
referring to tax cuts for the rich
ninekeysdown@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Fucking poor people!! Have they tried NOT being poor!? Bunch of lazy entitled poors!! /s
chb@lemmy.world 11 months ago
We’re is this technology related? It’s completely political - something I don’t want to see, but now also technology cannot be followed anymore, as most things here are political news with a tech keyword in the headline sadly :/
hasnt_seen_goonies@lemmy.world 11 months ago
But isn’t broadband access one of the main requirements for using technology? I understand not wanting to interact with politics, but nothing in our life is truly separated from it.
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
Politics is everything
If your kid is the better player but the coach picks his kid to be on the team then that’s politics
If company stops puts a paid OS on their IBM machines because it’s made by the son of someone on their board instead of the superior free option then that’s politics
asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world 10 months ago
…broadband Internet has nothing to do with technology?
Codilingus@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
Lmao, their problem with it, is that the vast majority of people using the ACP already had Internet before signing up…Which just proves how much of a necessity Internet is.
CherenkovBlue@iusearchlinux.fyi 11 months ago
Lot of Republican governors of states that signed a letter urging this subsidy to be renewed. Seriously, broadband subsidies for rural areas should be renewed.
autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] 11 months ago
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Republican members of Congress blasted a program that gives $30 monthly broadband discounts to people with low incomes, accusing the Federal Communications Commission of being “wasteful.”
The lawmakers suggested in a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel that they may try to block funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which is expected to run out of money in April 2024.
The letter questioned Rosenworcel’s testimony at a recent House hearing in which she warned that 25 million households could lose Internet access if Congress doesn’t renew the ACP discounts.
“At a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on November 30, 2023, you asserted—without evidence and contrary to the FCC’s own data—that ‘25 million households’ would be ‘unplug[ged]…from the Internet’ if Congress does not provide new funding for the ACP,” the letter said.
As Congress considers the future of taxpayer broadband subsidies, we ask you to correct the hearing record and make public accurate information about the ACP."
Unfortunately, your testimony pushes “facts” about the ACP that are deeply misleading and have the potential to exacerbate the fiscal crisis without producing meaningful benefits to the American consumer.
The original article contains 546 words, the summary contains 189 words. Saved 65%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Hyperreality@kbin.social 11 months ago
Cowbee@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Nationalize internet.
MonsiuerPatEBrown@reddthat.com 11 months ago
Create local and municipal fiber options to stoke competition and drive down prices
Cowbee@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Markets are extremely bad when it comes to proper allocation of essentials. Infrastructure in general should be nationalized at minimum, and heavily invested in.
RedEyeFlightControl@lemmy.world 11 months ago
The local fiber provider skipped my street altogether because spectrum has a contract with the apartments, and they don’t think it’s worth running fiber to compete. I wish this was a joke. The providers are literally NOT competing at all.
Asafum@feddit.nl 11 months ago
It’s literally a fucking necessity so if course it’s privately owned… It’s so ridiculous how we treat necessities… Tell me what job you can apply to that doesn’t require it to be done over the Internet?
I remember when I could walk in to a store and shake the managers hand, then things changed and I got looked at like I was crazy “just go online and apply, why are you here?”
Cowbee@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Full agreement, way ahead of you. Instead of having a robust, publicly funded infrastructure-based necessity (internet service), it gets chopped up and sold piece-by-piece with price-gouging and local monopolies like warlords.
Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug@lemmy.world 11 months ago
My coop power company installed fiber, so my ISP is a coop.
joel_feila@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Nice where do you live
Cowbee@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Co-ops are cool, but markets in general have far too many disadvantages for me to advocate for market-based Socialism over a non-market solution.