said by tschmidt:I keep falling back to depression era rural electrification and telephone expansion. If we could figure out a way to wire rural folks up during the height of the 1930s I think it is unconscionable we cannot provide high speed Internet to everyone today.
Me too. The way I see it though, is that there are (at least) two things which make the situation different now than it was then.
I live about 12 miles from the telco office and there is a remote station across the street from me with battery backup and a switch. It is fed with a cable with 20 some odd pair, one of which is a T1 for our small town of 100 people. This same cable continues on for another 6 miles to a town of about 300. We have had nothing but problems with that old cable, and Telus has been stonewalling for years saying that we are not having outages when our phones don't work.
* Earlier this year, after having expended huge amounts of manpower with people and trucks coming out to dig up the cable and fix it every few feet every time it breaks, Telus finally decided to spend some money and replace part of it, as well as putting parts of it on existing power poles. Along with this was a huge amount of government paperwork to put in a couple more poles - not to mention the paperwork to negotiate with the power company for rental of their poles.
I would guess that this last manoeuvre, along with the couple of years of paying a crew with trucks and equipment to come out weekly, has cost more than it would have to put in fibre. Yes, I know there are end point costs as well, but I still think it would likely be cheaper.
So, what do I think is different now from in the 30's? Well, for one thing there is the difficulty of acquiring rights. Rights to existing poles is costly but routine, and land rights to put in new poles is very difficult to get - especially on public land. For another, the economics of the telco business does not allow for amortization. They simply do not consider the future as being part of their business plan. And the third thing - they do not want us to have good internet. That would involve the scary thought of changing their business model, and I actually think that it would mean less revenue for them. Modern internet is not going to happen here. I would be surprised if all the rural areas in the US who, just like here are currently getting 1.5 mbps, are not going to be in the same boat.
* I will illustrate with a story of the reverse. A scientist is studying fleas. He has trained a number of them to dance when he gives the word. "Dance" he says, and they dance. He then proceeds to the next part of the experiment. He picks off all their legs. Now, he says "dance"! ... they don't dance. His conclusion is that, when you pick off their legs, they become deaf.
This, is the thinking of Telus explained in reverse. When the telephone cable to the whole town is cut, nobody phones them to say they don't have any service. Therefor no refunds are given. This practice, by the way, is condoned by the the overseeing government body. We are doomed.