 linicxCaveat EmptorPremium
join:2002-12-03
United State
 ·Cass Communicati..
 ·CenturyLink
| Hmmm? I live in rural Illinois 50 miles from nowhere. I've been rural for nearly 30 years in four states. I've had 28.8 modems, broadband actually slower than a dial up modem, WISP, Cox, AT&T, Suddenlink, Wireless ands exactly two very awesome ISPs that are actually transparent. am currently on a tiny homespun phone company that is aggressive as all get out when providing new services to customers. I've gone from cable to Internet to VOIP and now I'm moving to on-demand movies and HD. And I"m 2 blocks from a BNSF rail. Trains pass through her 4/5 times daily.
Yeah!!! We already have fiber. It was running really good until their mass 'bundle' campaign oversold the Internet/VOIP bundle and someone nicked the fiber last weekend.
I've lived in mountainous, heavily forested areas as well as cornfields, too. It's been an education. AT&T owns 98% of America's land lines; they did 50 years ago. Big TELCOs are a PIA. They don't like rural. I think it has more to do with their old worn equipment than it does the the distance between towns. They don't want to replace old equipment for 400 people when they can sell the land line off and move 50 miles to a town of 90,000. The only draw back in topography. It is lot easier to dig 20' deep in black loam to install fiber than it is in to dig 10' in Hardpan, clay and mountain to service one customer. Sooner or later these companies are going conclude i it really easier to bounce a microwave signal between 200' foot towers than it is to move a mountain. There are some parts of the united states where dialup and satellite are the only choices for Internet the foreseeable future.
TELCOs don't want to admit it and customers don't want to hear it. This is a fact of life. I asked my ISP how long before we get 25Mbsp as it is already being deployed. His response? "Not in your lifetime or mine." That's 40 years in real time.
Maybe dark fiber WILL make a difference in rural America. I hope so.
--
Mac: No windows, No Gates, Apple inside |
