PDXPLT
join:2003-12-04
Banks, OR | reply to elray
Re: Are you joking? said by elray:I don't believe anyone opposes faster rural broadband, or wants to "screw the farmers". Every time the subject of rural broadband comes up here, people here do indeed say that. Usually it's accompanied by stereotypical characterizations of rural residents as inbred bumpkins who wouldn't know how to use a PC, even if they have one. It's finished up with cries of "move, if you want it that bad".
We just don't want to subsidize it with federal tax money. Yea, the anti-rural types always make the leap we're requesting tax subsidies, rather than just plain availability. It an old technique - distort an issue in order to demonize it, and thus make it easier to oppose. If you and yours aren't willing to pay a market rate to attract a terrestrial service provider ... I'd love to pay a market rate. Well-regarded DSL "guru" and reporter Dave Burstein did an analysis in his last publication; he estimates the investment cost to deploy DSL from a fiber-cost remote cabinet to be $300 *maximum*. Fine, so to who in Verizon do I send my check? Heck, I'll send them twice that; they can make a little profit right off the bat, even before they start collecting monthly fees. But in my neighborhood, Verizon doesn't want to cannabolize their crappy, 5GB cap'd wireless service, so they refuse to install the DSL line cards.
(or build your own coop)... Since the ILECs got the FCC to drop line sharing several years ago, and they lobby state legislatures to prohibit local broadband, that's exremely difficult, if not impossible. |
