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BokehJunkie t1_j6b2cxg wrote

Reply to comment by tjcanno in Broadband for Under $50? In Mississippi and Arkansas, You're Out of Luck by Sorin61

Large ISP’s have been happily accepting government funding for “rural broadband” expansion for about the last 12 years and it has hardly made a dent. What they did instead was use that money to buy small, already established ISP’s in rural areas. Then they’d turn around and say “look at our rural footprint and how much it’s grown!”

It’s all a racket and they haven’t helped nearly as many people as they’ve presented like they have.

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cmVkZGl0 t1_j6bw3pk wrote

They've already squandered billions of dollars away without results. Any future money they get should not be on the table in the first place, but if it does end up going to them, they should have to provide the results first. These are huge companies that can afford to wait for their money, so let's make them. If they try to complain, we can ask "what's the problem? You're going to do the work anyway, right?"

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ggrindelwald t1_j6bwxl6 wrote

>I've already squandered billions of dollars away

And I thought my spending was out of control...

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tjcanno t1_j6dcjkq wrote

I agree. This is not something that can be addressed by the private sector because it is not profitable enough for them.

Look at the TVA. It is a quasi-government agency that brought power to a large area of the country that private enterprise would not serve. It worked.

We need rural TVA-like infrastructure built by quasi- government agency that is not just looking at profitability.

Honestly, I think satellite service makes sense for rural areas. But I’m open to anything that works well and can be deployed quickly.

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Westfakia t1_j6dvtb8 wrote

Hey, careful there!! Keep thinking along those lines and you could end up with single payer healthcare.

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