The coming Broadband Crisis
Perlhaqr, over at Tam’s place, sees the writing on the screen:
[F]ifteen years ago 100% of American households lacked broadband internet access.
It’s just like all the arguments for pretty much any amount of socialisation in healthcare, at the basic level. “Something has been invented, therefore I deserve it even if I can’t pay for it myself.”
And really, I strongly doubt that 1/3rd of the US truly lies in areas absolutely unavailable to high speed internet. It may be really expensive high speed internet, but there’s almost nowhere that the little satellite dishes can’t get you ‘net.
So it’s not even “I can’t get this” it’s “I don’t want to pay as much as it would cost to get this, so someone else should buy it for me.”
The politics of envy, writ small, though clearly not small enough.
ms7168 »
20 February 2011 · 10:36 am
When Cox first came out with their broadband it was one speed and one price which was $29.95 per month. I like a lot of people had two phone lines so that I could use one for internet and the other for voice. The second line even though pretty much stripped of any frivolities was around $25 a month and I disconnected it so the net change was really only $4.95 and I thought it was well worth it. Then they started going up and then they teased us with higher speeds for just a little more money. Now that plain vanilla service is $44.95 and the one I have is $59.95. You can get some break on that with a bundle and / or contract.
unimpressed »
20 February 2011 · 9:46 pm
@ms7168: My second POTS line was approximately $25 and the dial-up ISP was $10. The change to Cox was, for me, a net savings of $5 a month.
Shortly after I got the cable modem, cell phones started getting decent coverage for a comparable-to-landline price, so I got rid of the first line as well.
Lynn »
21 February 2011 · 8:26 am
Well, I have one of the “little satellite dishes” and while I suppose it is technically considered “broadband” it is certainly not high speed. The situation with high speed Internet is similar to the situation with electricity in the early part of the 20th century. And if today’s conservatives had been in power back then some of us still wouldn’t have electricity.
CGHill »
21 February 2011 · 9:03 am
Not even the “high speed” stuff is “high speed,” compared to what can be had in some parts of the world.
There are still a few places which don’t have electricity.
ms7168 »
21 February 2011 · 10:00 am
@unimpressed: I never paid for dial-up :) At the time there were still free providers that I used . . sometimes more than one at a time :)
I shortly thereafter got rid of my first phone line also.
Hatless in Hattiesburg »
21 February 2011 · 10:11 am
crisis! crisis! git’cher red-hot crisis here!…
won’t someone PLEASE think of the children getting lag-spiked on w.o.w??!!??!…