• WatDabney@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    71
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 days ago

    It sucks to even be in partial agreement with the broligarchs, but as a rural American, I have zero sympathy for this fuckhead or anyone else involved in the broadband fund.

    The government has been pouring money into broadband expansion for decades, and for decades, internet providers have been sopping up that money while doing exactly nothing to actually earn it.

    • Ledericas@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      12 hours ago

      in rural areas they dont have much choices, but in the west we have non-atat,xfinity, TWC, and verizon at least.

    • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      57
      ·
      2 days ago

      I mean, we could tell them to pay back the money, or force them to make upgrades. But, its easier to just award contracts to starlink.

      • SinningStromgald@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        22
        ·
        2 days ago

        We certainly can’t make them pay the money back. That could affect executive bonuses and stock plans as well corporate stock buybacks to drive up stock prices! Won’t you think of the executives! /s

    • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      2 days ago

      It’s not all a story of failure, because there are numerous rural areas that have fiber now that did not before those programs. Some states have added on programs that boost the fiber adoption, like letting local phone and power companies roll out fiber on utility poles along the power lines. For example, I’m in a rural area and have 2 good options for fiber for about $50/mo with higher tier plans available.

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      2 days ago

      They’ve been doing the exact same thing in Canada.

      Give us money to expand! Billions later, or we got 5 new houses connected and spent the rest upgrading other shit not for rural people.

      • pedz@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        14 hours ago

        It’s so disappointing when you live in a region that has had multiple providers with even some that are offering decent services and competition to the monopolies, only to be bought by the monopolies a few years later.

        For a while, I lived in a rural region in Quebec with a “big” town of 5000 people surrounded by small villages. Because the big telcos were considering the villages too small and were always late to offer any service in the region, multiple small providers (and even a cooperative) started offering phone (and later internet) service in their own village. So around 2010, when FTTH was not even offered in big cities, the small municipality of Béthanie, with 300 people and no village, had FTTH from its local cooperative.

        Unfortunately, from the 4 local ISPs I knew growing up there, they have all been bought by Bell, except the cooperative. And villages that had plans to get FTTH now get nothing because they’re not important enough anymore.

        My parents still live on a rural road in that region and surprise, the monopolies are not offering broadband, but the local cooperative is offering them FTTH. It’s always been a bit surreal that my parents living in the middle of nowhere have FTTH before me in Montreal. The power of cooperatives!