Posted on 11/13/2023 8:06:33 PM PST by FrozenAssets
USDA continues its unbelievable level of corruption with regard to rural internet. Check out some of the awards. Several companies are getting millions and millions in corporate welfare. Most of these set ups could be done for less than one percent of what the idiots that run this government are paying.
I took a quick look through the companies and didn’t see Starlink in there. I think Elon will force rural internet to become competitive and efficient.
I see it more like their getting closer tabs on and control of rural populations before booting them off their land.
I’m from the government-funded Internet and I’m here to help you.
Yeah, sure.
“Most of these set ups could be done for less than one percent of what the idiots that run this government are paying.”
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Indeed. However the federal government is corrupt and rotten to the core. All government run programs are rife with dirty, underhanded, shady deals which not only enrich the lobbyists and the companies they represent but also the gov employees that award the contracts. If they are not getting a kickback under the table, then they are getting a sweetheart deal when the leave their jobs and go into the private sector. Kinda like when a president or Congress critter leaves office. They are all getting a cut.
Which is why they hate and fear Trump. They know if he gets back in the White House again, he will shut them down.
Agreed, but Starlink will only get better whereas the cable guys will most likely be offering more of the same for years to come.
I am pretty ticked off at cable and would love to move to Starlink but I can not justify it on financial grounds. If the price ever drops to 75% of cable or if the price of the equipment goes down the game will shift drastically.
Been going on for 10 years or more. Millions of dollars spent burying fiber and when you ask to see the business model that will light it up and use it to deliver services, they just give you a blank stare. The USDA Community Meddling...i.e. “Economic Development” branch is a huge joke - the staff is a bunch of dimwitted sociology majors who couldn’t get a job anywhere else and now are considered experts. Yeah, I’ve had some experience with them (spit).
The coop system has driven the line of sight wireless provider mostly out of business now and it is about 2/3 the price and three times the speed.
I challenge anyone to name one thing the gooberment has done in the last 40 or more years that has improved anything or does not cost more than the alternative. The gooberment does nothing good. I’d be thrilled to see most branches of it just end.
For even moderately populated areas you may have a point, but in real rural areas the cost of putting in coax cable or fiber optic greatly exceeds the cost of Starlink equipment.
$600 goes real quick when you are paying a burly guy on a backhoe to burry cable...
Starlink will take off and dominate the market when either the price of the equipment goes down or the price per month drops to about 25% cheaper then cable/DSL.
Try this one at $694,000 per household served. How can you spend that much money on internet? Answer, you can’t.
Applicant: Big Bend Telephone Company, Inc.
Location: Texas
Total Square Miles: 52.2
Funded Service Area Households: 36
Award Amount: $25,000,000
This Rural Development investment will be used to deploy a fiber-to-the-premises network to provide high-speed internet. This network will benefit 64 people, one business and eight farms in Terrell, Val Verde and Brewster counties in Texas. Big Bend Telephone Company Inc. will make high-speed internet affordable by participating in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Lifeline and Affordable Connectivity Programs.
I live in rural Oregon. DSL is NOT a suitable alternative.
I have had DSL. (1) The distances are too great. (2) The advent of the cell phone has lead to a pause on maintenance of the copper wires used for regular telephone service. The best we ever got was 1 to 1.5 Mbps. When we complained the phone company would send out a tech to try to find us a good, clean set of wires. As soon as we got one, someone else would complain and the next tech would give them the good wires. It was a constant battle and frustration.
We cut the cord on wired phones and DSL in favor of microwave internet about 10 years ago. Better, but not great. On a good day we could get ONE livestream for the entire house.
But, I can guarantee you that with 10 more years of no maintenance DSL is even worse than when we left it.
Must be why our phone/dsl company just got brand new trucks and ran a little fiber
This is why the government is slow-walking SpaceX Starship launch paperwork.
Musk needs Starship to be able to launch the much-larger Starlink V2 satellite, which would provide much more capacity.
> Starlink
Curious if anyone has ever asked about visual and other surveillance capabilities.
Ha—exactly!
We had the choice of dial up or Verizon wireless wifi. We took Verizon for nearly 15 years and got 17-20MPS download and 7 upload and paid $110 a month. After 22G used they could throttle us back.
We were offered through a county program Starlink equipment for free and a years service free. We accepted it and the biggest problem was getting it installed in a good location. Now we download from 75-185MPS or faster and upload is pretty consistent at 15-17MPS. We pay $110 a month with better speeds and quality. We did come out ahead not having to buy the equipment. I would recommend Starlink.
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