jaminus
join:2004-10-14
Arlington, VA | reply to funchords
Re: Incumbent telecom lobbyists -- fight fire with fire Yes! Let's spend other people's money on something that all of us on BroadbandReports.com agree is the best thing ever--super fast broadband. Sure, there a lot of people who could get broadband but decide against it (according to Pew reports) but they're all obviously just idiots. We'll take their billions and spend it far better than they ever could.
The best part about broadband is that the marginal gain of each additional megabit exceeds the marginal cost at any point. Broadband is just one of those things where there's no such thing as too much, no matter the cost. This is especially true when we're using government funds. As long as we're going to run the U.S. into the ground with mounting debt, might as well do it in style, eh? |
 bentand IngaPremium
join:2004-10-04
Loveland, CO
 ·Comcast
| Because developing infrastructure to keep pace with the rest of the developed world is a terrible thing. Hell. Our schools can't keep up, why should our communication network?
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»www.lp.org/issues/family-budget
"That government is best which governs least" - Thoreau |
 funchordsHelloPremium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA
kudos:5
1 edit | reply to jaminus
said by jaminus:Yes! Let's spend other people's money on something that all of us on BroadbandReports.com agree is the best thing ever--super fast broadband. Obviously not, since many readers here do not agree. This won't fly if America generally doesn't agree with it, and it shouldn't fly if that is the case. But I think it makes sense, cold-hearted fiscal conservative that I am, because I see the Milton Friedman free-market in it.
There's a reason why we don't sell our city streets to the highest bidder, and that's because if Wal-mart was in charge of the street, none of them would ever go to Target. So we all own the streets, and everyone benefits.
Last-mile broadband can be the same way.
said by jaminus:Sure, there a lot of people who could get broadband but decide against it (according to Pew reports) but they're all obviously just idiots. We'll take their billions and spend it far better than they ever could. Actually, I respect those that can turn off the TV, Internet, and phones at home. Had I had my life to live over again, I would have had better balance for my family with more actual activities and fewer dumbstruck hours in front of the tube(s).
But Pew also found that apparent disinterest in Broadband wasn't really disinterest at all.
Non-broadband users cite a number of reasons for not using the service
– including availability, price, and lack of interest.
62% of dial-up users say they are not interested in giving up their current co nnection
for broadband.
When asked specifically what it would take to get them to switch to broadband:
35% of dial-up users say that the price of broadband service would have to fal l.
19% of dial-up users said nothing would convince them to get broadband.
14% of dial-up users – and 24% of dial-up users in rural America – s ay that
broadband service would have to become available where they live.
»www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Bro···2008.pdf
said by jaminus:The best part about broadband is that the marginal gain of each additional megabit exceeds the marginal cost at any point. Yeah, but look what's happening. The ISPs are moving to a pay-more-as-you-go model, where overage charges mean that the next gig is more expensive than the previous ones. With throttling beyond some usage, they also create the situation where you're paying more for less.
said by jaminus:Broadband is just one of those things where there's no such thing as too much, no matter the cost. That's a tasty sound-bite (byte?) but it doesn't mean a lot. For many people, that's true for highway speeds, education, health care, food, clean pools, puppy dogs, etc. etc....
said by jaminus:This is especially true when we're using government funds. As long as we're going to run the U.S. into the ground with mounting debt, might as well do it in style, eh? The reason I'd like 100 Mbps fiber is because copper has a limited lifetime and our copper solutions tend to be add-on technologies. Our copper-POTS wasn't designed for data, we added it as an after thought. Same with Cable data. If we're going to spend the money, let's spend it on something efficient. At the moment, there seems to be no stopping photonics as they continue to work the light spectrum into smaller and faster segments year after year. Let's spend the money wisely, not on something that'll be dead in the ground in 10 years.
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Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon -- KJ7RL
What you do at Christmas does not matter so much; What counts are the Christmas things you do all year through. |
