{"id":3442,"date":"2020-09-15T15:17:02","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T15:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=3442"},"modified":"2020-09-15T15:17:02","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T15:17:02","slug":"give-everybody-the-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=3442","title":{"rendered":"Give everybody the internet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC),\u00a021 million Americans<\/a>\u00a0don\u2019t have access to quality broadband internet, though\u00a0some estimates<\/a>\u00a0suggest that number is much higher,\u00a0even double<\/a>. Millions of people simply can\u2019t access broadband because the infrastructure isn\u2019t in place. Then there\u2019s the question of cost \u2014 just because a wire runs by someone\u2019s house doesn\u2019t mean they can use it. In 2019,\u00a0Pew Research<\/a>\u00a0found that half of non-broadband users still say they don\u2019t subscribe to the service because it\u2019s too expensive, and\u00a0nearly one in five households<\/a>\u00a0earning $30,000 or less aren\u2019t online. A $60-a-month internet option,\u00a0about the national average<\/a>, is only available if you have that $60.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Now the coronavirus pandemic has put into stark relief how crucial it is to have the internet \u2014 and how costly it is to be without it. For\u00a0millions of kids<\/a>, it means access to an education. For many workers,\u00a0it means doing their jobs<\/a>. For patients, it means talking to a doctor. It\u2019s how we access government services, look for work, find our homes, and stay connected in our day-to-day lives.”\u00a0
…
“Broadband internet in the United States is not great. It is too slow, too expensive, and it is not everywhere, even in urban areas. Major telecommunications providers have been accused of \u201cdigital redlining\u201d in cities such as\u00a0Cleveland<\/a>,\u00a0Detroit<\/a>, and\u00a0Dallas<\/a>, and discriminating against low-income and minority communities. Even where there is a decent internet connection,\u00a0there\u2019s often only one option for a provider<\/a>, and customers are left to whatever the whims of that provider are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue is, in part, that much of the country\u2019s internet infrastructure has been left in the hands of the private sector, an atypical scenario relative to other services that require vast infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way it works<\/a> is that there are fiber optic trunk lines across the US, and from there, other cables branch out. Fiber is fast and pretty much limitless in capacity, but it is also expensive to install \u2014 especially in the last mile, the final bit of connection to a business or home. Most people get broadband through coaxial cable networks<\/a> for that last mile, while others go through DSL that runs on copper phone lines. The former is slow, the latter slower. The US lags behind<\/a> countries such as South Korea, Japan, and Switzerland when it comes to typical download speeds.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“For private telecom companies building out broadband, that means making decisions about where to expand based on their bottom lines. Getting the internet to small communities or communities that are unlikely or unable to purchases their services may not be worth the upfront investment. The competitive incentive isn\u2019t there.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Telecommunications companies and ISPs are natural monopolies, which means that high infrastructure costs and other barriers to entry give early entrants a big advantage over potential competitors. It costs money to install cable systems, and once one company does it, another one doesn\u2019t want to do it again, nor does the company that made all the investment want to share. Many Republicans and Democrats have taken a lax attitude toward the telecom industry, allowing companies to get big and powerful \u2014 the Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed for an enormous amount of consolidation<\/a> in the industry. On top of that, at the local level, many municipalities have signed franchise agreements with ISPs<\/a> to wire up their areas, further locking in monopolies with little negotiating power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you leave these guys to their own devices, they will divide up markets, consolidate, and charge as much as they possibly can,\u201d”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The government has given private companies billions of dollars to try to fund broadband projects, especially on the rural front, but not all of that money has been well spent. Funds have gone to operating costs for existing telecom providers<\/a> instead of capital costs to build infrastructure outright. Sometimes, companies don\u2019t wind up building out the networks they promise<\/a>.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“More than 20 states\u00a0have laws that ban or put up roadblocks to municipal broadband projects<\/a>\u00a0that might allow cities to provide alternatives and compete. The telecom lobby fought hard for these provisions. In deep blue California, a bill to expand broadband access there recently\u00a0died in the state assembly<\/a>.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n


https:\/\/www.vox.com\/recode\/2020\/9\/10\/21426810\/internet-access-covid-19-chattanooga-municipal-broadband-fcc<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 21 million Americans don\u2019t have access to quality broadband internet, though some estimates suggest that number is much higher, even double. Millions of people simply can\u2019t access broadband because the infrastructure isn\u2019t in place. Then there\u2019s the question of cost \u2014 just because a wire runs by someone\u2019s house doesn\u2019t mean they can use it. In 2019, Pew Research found that half of non-broadband users still say they don\u2019t subscribe to the service because it\u2019s too expensive, and nearly one in five households earning $30,000 or less aren\u2019t online. A $60-a-month internet option, about the national average, is only available if you have that $60.<\/p>\n

Now the coronavirus pandemic has put into stark relief how crucial it is to have the internet \u2014 and how costly it is to be without it. For millions of kids, it means access to an education. For many workers, it means doing their jobs. For patients, it means talking to a doctor. It\u2019s how we access government services, look for work, find our homes, and stay connected in our day-to-day lives.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Broadband internet in the United States is not great. It is too slow, too expensive, and it is not everywhere, even in urban areas. Major telecommunications providers have been accused of \u201cdigital redlining\u201d in cities such as Cleveland, Detroit, and Dallas, and discriminating against low-income and minority communities. Even where there is a decent internet connection, there\u2019s often only one option for a provider, and customers are left to whatever the whims of that provider are.
\nThe issue is, in part, that much of the country\u2019s internet infrastructure has been left in the hands of the private sector, an atypical scenario relative to other services that require vast infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The way it works is that there are fiber optic trunk lines across the US, and from there, other cables branch out. Fiber is fast and pretty much limitless in capacity, but it is also expensive to install \u2014 especially in the last mile, the final bit of connection to a business or home. Most people get broadband through coaxial cable networks for that last mile, while others go through DSL that runs on copper phone lines. The former is slow, the latter slower. The US lags behind countries such as South Korea, Japan, and Switzerland when it comes to typical download speeds.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“For private telecom companies building out broadband, that means making decisions about where to expand based on their bottom lines. Getting the internet to small communities or communities that are unlikely or unable to purchases their services may not be worth the upfront investment. The competitive incentive isn\u2019t there.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Telecommunications companies and ISPs are natural monopolies, which means that high infrastructure costs and other barriers to entry give early entrants a big advantage over potential competitors. It costs money to install cable systems, and once one company does it, another one doesn\u2019t want to do it again, nor does the company that made all the investment want to share. Many Republicans and Democrats have taken a lax attitude toward the telecom industry, allowing companies to get big and powerful \u2014 the Telecommunications Act of 1996 allowed for an enormous amount of consolidation in the industry. On top of that, at the local level, many municipalities have signed franchise agreements with ISPs to wire up their areas, further locking in monopolies with little negotiating power.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you leave these guys to their own devices, they will divide up markets, consolidate, and charge as much as they possibly can,\u201d”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“The government has given private companies billions of dollars to try to fund broadband projects, especially on the rural front, but not all of that money has been well spent. Funds have gone to operating costs for existing telecom providers instead of capital costs to build infrastructure outright. Sometimes, companies don\u2019t wind up building out the networks they promise.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“More than 20 states have laws that ban or put up roadblocks to municipal broadband projects that might allow cities to provide alternatives and compete. The telecom lobby fought hard for these provisions. In deep blue California, a bill to expand broadband access there recently died in the state assembly.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1000,612],"class_list":["post-3442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-broadband","tag-internet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3442"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3443,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3442\/revisions\/3443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}