justbits
More fiber than ATT can handle
Premium
join:2003-01-08
Chicago, IL
 ·AT&T Midwest
·AT&T Yahoo
| Poorer areas not getting U-verse is a problem?
Of greater concern to many citizens in the state is the fear that U-Verse won’t serve poorer areas even in major cities like Milwaukee. A report on the issue found that only 15 out of 240 planned U-Verse locations in the area serve families living below the poverty line. Why is this such a major issue? Can people living below the poverty line even afford U-verse or cable?! Why is it so desirable to offer pay-TV services to people who probably can't afford it in the first place? I can understand why politicians want to make sure all of their constituents are served, but who is really driving this need for service to people below the poverty line?
Sure, I'd love to see fiber and VDSL deployed everywhere eventually, but does it make sense to provide it to a neighborhood that will either 1) never buy the service or 2) will get the service and default on payments? |
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gaforces
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA
·Cruzio Internet
| Of course people below poverty line can afford it, even some kid with a paper rout could afford it.
"Broadband penetration" is now treated as a key economic indicator.
That means banks, creditors, insurance companys, etc will all be considering that before investing in an area.
We are in the "Global Economy" now, which we need upgrading infrastructure and penetrating even the darkest reaches of our country.
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband_···t_access
--
‘Do ye, quieting in your bosoms your strong hearts,
Who of many good things have had your fill even to surfeit,
With what is moderate nourish your mighty desire; for neither will
We yield, nor shall you have all else as you wish.’
Solon |
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Neosum
Premium
join:2000-06-03
Oakland, CA
| said by gaforces  :Of course people below poverty line can afford it, even some kid with a paper rout could afford it. Let's see.. Below poverty line... Food, or uverse... food or uverse... Hard decision |
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TK Junk Mail
Go ahead, make my day
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Margate City, NJ
clubs:
 ·Comcast
| reply to gaforces
said by gaforces :Of course people below poverty line can afford it, even some kid with a paper rout could afford it. If they can afford internet access and cable TV, then why are we giving out food stamps? Let them pay for their OWN Necessities of Life if they can afford cable TV. |
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Tony_in_indy
@ameritech.net
| reply to justbits
IT isnt just about "poor people" I live in a very nice apartment complex in Indianapolis Indiana, make a great living and, like many of my neighbors, can easily afford cable, but I dropped comcast a month after they hooked it up for lots of reasons that are not relivent here, in addition th the BigTen net fiasco...
I read on a site like this in Sept. that the complex across the street, same kind of buildings, just had a fancy fountain out front and a $300/Mo bigger price tag could get Uverse and I, 200 feet from the fiber, could not because att had determined that our complex wasnt worthy...well, 100 calls to various levels of ATT people later, I get it installed soon.
There really needs to be an investigation about this, there is nothing wrong with maximizing ROI, but they are getting public funds for these build-outs, so crap like this is simply not acceptable. |
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ArnoldZiffel
@comcast.net | reply to justbits
Exactly, justbits. Farmers don't deserve broadband nor do their children. In fact, America really doesn't even need farmers, we can just buy our food from China. A little bit of lead or melamine won't hurt anyone. |
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gaforces
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA | reply to TK Junk Mail
One benefit of broadband penetration is to help people get off the dole ... |
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bentman78
Bentley
join:2004-04-16
Arlington, VA | and being able to use bittorrent faster to download music will help people get jobs how? |
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gaforces
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA
·Cruzio Internet
| said by bentman78 :and being able to use bittorrent faster to download music will help people get jobs how? Just because you use it that way doesnt mean everyone does. |
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YEAHRITE
@sbcglobal.net
| reply to gaforces
Really? how exactly is that? oh that's right---sock it to the rest of us in the form of WELFARE one way or another. You don't need the internet to get off the dole. YOU need to get off the free loading mentality . Get a job, feed your family then and only then think about broadband or any other. Or, move to china or cuba. |
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shapiro44
join:2004-03-01
Highland, NY | reply to Tony_in_indy
Nicely said Tony_in_indy!
and congradulations getting fiber. I'm surprised you were
able to find 100 phone numbers inside ATT, usually
the higher ups are unreachable. |
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gaforces
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA
edit:
December 16th, @05:23PM
| reply to YEAHRITE
Upon reflection, I do not wish to post. |
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MaroonGuru
join:2003-09-03
Oconomowoc, WI
| reply to justbits
said by justbits :Of greater concern to many citizens in the state is the fear that U-Verse won’t serve poorer areas even in major cities like Milwaukee. A report on the issue found that only 15 out of 240 planned U-Verse locations in the area serve families living below the poverty line. Why is this such a major issue? Can people living below the poverty line even afford U-verse or cable?! Why is it so desirable to offer pay-TV services to people who probably can't afford it in the first place? I can understand why politicians want to make sure all of their constituents are served, but who is really driving this need for service to people below the poverty line? Sure, I'd love to see fiber and VDSL deployed everywhere eventually, but does it make sense to provide it to a neighborhood that will either 1) never buy the service or 2) will get the service and default on payments? This is a major issue, and a very real issue. I live in the town of Summit, WI. SBC/AT&T rolled out fiber to the home in Pabst Farms, and touted it greatly. Then, when I wanted even plain old DSL in the same town, less than 3 miles away, they said no. They would not even send out a tech to remove the load lines which is what prevents me from getting DSL. Once this gets signed, they will no longer have to deal with my town board, and the franchise agreement for Time Warner will also get thrown out. Our town does not require kickbacks and public access channels, only that certain timelines were met, and that new runs were properly priced.
So, this universal one size fits all (Really a one size fits the needs of the large companies) type of franchise agreement will simply allow the companies to legally cherry pick for maximum profit and ignore the billions they have collected to roll out a more universal broadband coverage.
We need a legislature to look out for the public interest, not the private profit. |
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