Analysis of broadband affordability deemed “extraneous” by FCC chair.
The Federal Communications Commission is ditching Biden-era standards for measuring progress toward the goal of universal broadband deployment.
The changes will make it easier for the FCC to give the broadband industry a passing grade in an annual progress report. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s proposal would give the industry a thumbs-up even if it falls short of 100 percent deployment, eliminate a long-term goal of gigabit broadband speeds, and abandon a new effort to track the affordability of broadband.
Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act requires the FCC to determine whether broadband is being deployed “on a reasonable and timely basis” to all Americans. If the answer is no, the US law says the FCC must “take immediate action to accelerate deployment of such capability by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by promoting competition in the telecommunications market.”
I fucking hate that every couple of years we just backpedal on everything. So god damn exhausting.
It takes so long to fix everything, too!
Yeah well, clearly it wasn’t fixed fast enough so we should vote back in the people that break everything. Or decide that we shouldn’t vote at all like the lazy sacks of shit we are.
Propaganda is a hell of a drug
This is the part that bothers me so much about everything that is being dismantled right now. It took forever to get it to where it is, and it still needed a lot of improvement. And it was just smashed seemingly overnight.
It’s like a sandcastle. Takes forever to build a good one, and it takes some asshole one second to step on it and destroy the whole thing.
takes some asshole one second to step on it and destroy the whole thing.
Absolutely. The last one to just go “lol nah” and demolish the working class this hard was Reagan, and we were still reaping the fallout from those asinine policies when 2016 hit!
It took forever to get it to where it is, and it still needed a lot of improvement
It not just took forever to get to where we were but it seems like most of the good things Biden was able to get passed were long term investments. Money spent for something that would help in ten years.
Now it’s money spent and thrown away.
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If only we could chart that and see which political party is in charge at which points, and then never vote for the one that puts us here ever again… Oh well
We can though, first time was the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 with funding being released in 2010. D president, D Senate, D house.
By 2012 it became obvious that the commitment lined out in the 2009 bill weren’t going to happen and a meek attempt to claw back the funds was made. D president, D Senate, R house.
2021 sees the access broadband act. D president, D Senate, D house.
By 2025 it became obvious that the commitment lined out in the 2021 bill weren’t going to happen. R president,
DR Senate, R house.The only constant is a Democratic Senat so clearly that’s the problem! Right?Edit: wrong session for 2025 caucus. It’s all Rs there.
In 2025 the Senate is also controlled by the Republicans. The have complete control of all 3 branches.
My bad, thanks for catching that I was looking at 118th caucus not 119th. I thought I just misremembered which of those pesky other parties were part of which caucus.
I know, I was being facetious. I appreciate the sources to back it up though
With the way American politics are at the moment I interpreted that as a “only the Republicans are the bad guys” and wanted to make it abundantly clear that is not the case.
stop voting them in then
If it were just my vote that mattered, they wouldn’t be in office. But I understand the sentiment.
Such a predictable outcome by the shittiest people on the planet.
We are truly living in a kakistocracy right now.
that’s a feature of capitalism…
People is stretching it. They are subhuman pedophiles all
Well, they all started as humans and then turned into twisted creatures by staggering amounts of wealth and luxury.
Didn’t ISPs just get tens of billions of dollars to expand high-speed connections to rural areas? For the second time?
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Yes! And I’m honestly very thankful for it. The federal grants are the main reason I have affordable gigabit-speed fiber internet way out in here in my rural county. Without it, I’d be stuck with 10mb DSL, crumby and expensive satellite based options, or very limited 4G/5G based hotspot internet.
Glad you’re one of the lucky ones. They only did a fraction of the amount of work they were supposed to and pocketed the rest. Enjoy it for the rest of us!
You sure that wasn’t rolled back to give that money to Jeff Bezos so he could have a really really expensive wedding?
Actually I remember reading a few weeks ago that BEAD money was cut. At the time I was thinking the Appalachians are gonna thank that one person who’s totally one of them and their friend, J.D. Vance, for that.
I live in the Appalachians. I’m confused about whom you’re referring to. I’d assume you mean Trump, but he’s not one of us. He’s not Appalachian at all.
I’m a bit confused, I explicitly wrote J.D. Vance, why would you assume Trump? :-D
He had the whole book taking up his Appalachian heritage didn’t he? The end of my comment was of course sarcastic, because all he’s doing is betraying rural America including the Appalachians.
Ah ok. I thought you were referring to two people, one vaguely and then that person’s friend, Vance. My confusion.
Ah I can see how it can be read that way! Sorry. Maybe I messed up the commas again. I’m perpetually confused because the rules are different in English and German.
English can be silly like that. If we were talking in person, I would be able to understand from the inflection in your voice by what you meant, but in text, it’s easier to misinterpret what was meant. It was my mistake.
I’m surprised US doesn’t have gigabit as a standard already. I’m upgrading to 10 gigabit next month here (Portugal)…
Much of it does, but as far as standard, I’m not sure.
Next up EPA switches to visual inspection of water sources for purity.
They’ll just have AI do it. Can’t afford real eyes.
But…
Real eyes realise real lies…
It’s all in the rhyme there.
The AI will end up costing 3x the amount it did before but the company is owned by some senator’s son so the agency will lock in a 20 year deal.
It’s funny that you think they’ll inspect it at all.
It will be left up to the states, and only blue states who actually care enough to fund their DEP will do anything.
Which would 100% lead to illness and death.
Honestly expecting them to defluoridate water any second now, citing quack sources, and will then be aghast at skyrocketing dental issues.
… Dental will still be a luxury insurance, of course.
plus untreated dental diseases, like caries, gingivitis, periconitis can lead to more serious infections. also the immense pain you would feel before it even gets “worst”
Why the fuck would they care about dental issues? Those are elective bones that only rich people should have anyway.
10 years from now USA is gonna be a 3rd world country with all these cuts.
Trump was always obsessed with “shit hole countries”. Now he’s turning the US into one of them.
He wants us to be exactly like Russia. Complete shithole company run by the oligarchy, who live lavish luxury lives.
Rich people hate equality because that means they need to share.
Certainly seems that way.
No regulations to support a reasonable standard of living for the peasants.
Oligarchs mooching off everyone else.
Americans have lost so much in the last few months, not only with the bullshit spending bill but just the erosion of the rule of law and the democratic process.
Not even gonna take 10 years. By the end of Spray Tan’s term the country is gonna be a complete toilet.
Assuming he doesn’t find a way to stay in office indefinitely.
It’s already a 3rd world country, has been for some time now.
I wish someone would look up what “3rd World” means and stop conflating the unaligned movement with poverty.
You should look up how many people in the US are under the poverty line.
I don’t think that was what they were saying. They were bemoaning the fact that “3rd world” has become a synonym for “developing” or “poor” when technically it means countries that weren’t part of the cold war, although I think they might be tilting at windmills given it’s a distinction that’s been lost for at least three decades already.
Apart from anything else, even if you keep its original meaning, it still works as a metaphor in the sense of a country losing superpower status.
it’s a distinction that’s been lost for at least three decades already.
The consequences of Cold War politics echo through to the modern day.
Ya, the term “3rd world” has since become synonymous with poor or developing countries.
It’s not a correct or accurate term, but it’s still used.
We always have been a 3rd world country
From Europe it has already looked like a 3rd world country for at least a few years.
Why does everything have to be so fucking political?
Faster broadband is good. Who fucking cares what political party?
For rural communities to get higher speeds ISPs have to actually use the money the government gives them for increasing rural community internet speeds on increasing rural community internet speeds. If broadband is defined as “one house in the county has access to internet as fast as your grandparents had growing up” then they’ve already met their goal and they don’t need to spend any money and collect pure profit from government subsidies.
Biden thought that was bullshit and established policy to direct them to do the right thing. The current administration, however, is more than happy taking their checks to the back.
We should not be giving private entities cash without rigid metrics and timelines. In fact, we should claw back what we’ve given them.
In general I’d agree. Unfortunately, private entities and lobbyists don’t and they’ll pay politicians for the privilege of getting free money at the expense of the rest of us.
Why does everything have to be so fucking political?
When will people who say shit like this wake the fuck up and realize that life is political?
Grow up and deal with it like everyone else, fucking cowards.
and deal with it like everyone else
no, not like that, that doesn’t do anything useful
Well yeah, we all know it’s good. That’s why Republicans want to take it away.
Why does everything have to be so fucking political?
The problem with ignoring politics is that politics is never going to ignore you.
The wedge is already in place. They just keep pounding on it. This is 100% what happens when corporations and governments become one.
It’s especially funny how Republicans are against regulations because according to them, it stifles progress and innovation. So why are they against regulations that try to force progress and innovation?
Of course we know why, because it’s all a lie. They just want more money for the 1%. How there is even a single (non-1%'er) idiot left that votes for them is waaaay beyond me.
From a Swede with gigabit internet: didn’t you Americans already give a lot of money to your ISPs to build fiber? Maybe time to demand a ROI?
Please don’t remind me.
I wish these companies would all just go bankrupt and die already.Kinda hard when they’ve gone full mafioso and split up the country into territories so that we only have like one choice and have to be a customer. Because capitalism runs on no competition and monopolies, right?
There should be daily reminders until there are consequences imho.
that was ages ago, they took the money and never developed it, they started to do something last year with biden, but trump reversed. Just like with HIGH RAIL system in california, trump blocked it all.
$100+ a month is normal, and gigabit internet is not available everywhere
I pay 639 SEK per month for 1 GB full duplex. And gigabit internet should be available in at least most of America, why else did you give away all that money?
$67 USD
other country: lets bring in gig speeds Japan: futile we have and are testing terrabytes… America: i like cheese… govt cheese
Terabit per second speed is not impressive for backbone links. I could go to the office tomorrow and grab all the stuff needed to install one on our line through the alps, just by bundling 3 links of 400 Gbit/s with stuff we already have, and I’m working for a small to medium ISP.
What you are likely referring to, is the 1 Pbit/s over 1800 km demonstration that NICT presented at the OFC this year. That’s impressive.
Neat. I’ve heard of backbones and T1-T3 lines. Butt that’s crazy, and makes sense.
FCC: Doing our job deemed extraneous.
Analysis of broadband affordability deemed “extraneous” by FCC chair.
The royal court is displeased with matters of the common peasantry
We will kill the effort with but a word
We will accept no further pleas for explanation
Sounds like bullshit coming down the pipes to try and distract us from the news that the commander in chief is a kiddy diddler
Get ready for your shitty internet to cost even more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcZxaFfxloo
this interview has an excellent breakdown why progress is so hard, democrats decide if they cannot have everything, and be fair to everyone nothing gets done. its infuriating
This screws over Trump supporters primarily, so go right ahead.
I want good things, and this is a bad thing that hurts stupid people more
That doesn’t make it a good thing
I never said I’m happy about this, but leopards eating faces is the only thing keeping me sane.
I want to say “fair enough”, but they’re trying to do a genocide
I kinda think you might have to keep yourself sane by getting involved in the resistance. Phone bank for progressive victory, get involved with your local DSA… Or something
Do what you can, but do enough that you won’t feel ashamed when children ask about it. It will make you feel better today too
Dumb take. When the Trump supporters can’t get good internet speeds from their local broadband infrastructure thanks to crap like this, they turn to Starlink, prop up fascist Elmo, and to boot they have it reinforced to them once again that the ‘government is useless, only the Free Market ©® can provide good quality services’.
Why shouldn’t they turn to Starlink if it’s better than their local ISPs? If it offers better service I’d use it too. Objectively, Starlink is pretty great. If local ISPs don’t invest in their infrastructure they deserve to lose customers. I don’t understand your take at all. If you don’t think the folks on the boards of those ISPs aren’t just as evil as Musk you’re not paying attention.
You have it backwards. Why should Starlink be the only reasonable choice for so much of the country? Why should it be the fastest choice for so many?
Why should the federal govt have paid so much money to broadband providers to try to establish a monopoly for Elon musk? He’s got enough money to do that for himself
Sure, broadband providers deserve to go out of business if they don’t serve customers, but that doesn’t work when they can choose to serve only the most profitable customers. More importantly customers deserve to have decent service. Broadband is a need for modern life and should be treated as any other utility
Starlink is only ‘better’ (in some cases, certainly isn’t better in all nor at all times as its speed is highly variable), because your US cable and ISP giants have lobbied for decades to remove any oversight the FCC may exert on them - up to and including banning local communities from building their own networks, and ensuring that they have more or less monopoly control in many rural markets.
The only way to fix this is with the hammer of the FCC regulation. The ‘free market’ cannot fix a monopoly.
So when you laugh at your rural citizenry getting shafted by FCC policy changes that will benefit nobody but the large ISPs & cable companies, because you’re in a city and have lots of optiond with the competition that high-density living affords, you’re shooting your own regulatory powers in the foot for the sake of spite.
This is all setting aside of course than a huge proportion of rural Americans are not MAGA.
So yeah that’s why it’s a crappy take.
I never said Starlink is in any way better than all ISPs or even infrastructure types, but it’s undeniable that Starlink is the best internet solution for millions of Americans, no doubt millions of others globally. I personally know dozens of ‘salt of the Earth’ types that only had access to traditional satellite internet. Abysmal bandwidth with laughable latency and criminal data caps.
I’m 100% in agreement that governance has allowed and even encouraged cable/ISPs to run cartels and run rackets. If Starlink can offer the better service they should get all the customers and the ISPs companies can pound sand.
As for the rural dipshits, they don’t need you to white knight for them. Their stupidity should be palpable so they have the stimuli to encourage reflection.
Yeah keep moving the goalposts, I never claimed you said Starlink was better than all ISPs I simply clarified ‘better’. I’m white-knighting for the rural users now? No I’m pointing out how stupid it is to cheer for the regulators that are supposed to work for you instead shitting on you, because the corporations have lobbied them to and a very corporation-friendly government is in power.
Your response: cheer for the big corporate ISP (what do you think Starlink is exactly)? Gtfoh.
🤣 I just can’t take you serious. What goalpost? Am I supposed to know what ‘better’ means outside of using objective metrics? I’m hardly cheering for broadband standards to fall, but relishing in a bit of schadenfreude.
Apparently I didn’t make myself clear way earlier in this thread when I said ALL the stakeholders of these telecom companies are parasites sucking off the hard work of their subordinates. They’re vile oligarchic demons looking to squeeze every cent they can. Fascism is just the flavor of the week.
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also it will be more expensive in the long run.
Say what you will about Musk, and he is an irredeemable piece of trash, but at least he’s open about it. I’d much rather have my Nazis out in the open for the world to see. The CEOs of mega corps/elites are the real enemy, which Musk is one.
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It’s only better if the ISPs don’t use the money the government gave them to do the thing they said they would do. Which is literally what this article is about, or have you already forgotten?
As someone who has had download speeds above gigabit all throughout the 2020s so far (and for under $60/mo as well), it blows my mind that there are parts of the country that still don’t even have 10% of that.
Like what I’m saying is that even cell phone towers can do multi-gig speeds these days FFS, so there’s no excuse even for rural areas to not have at least a couple of reliable gigabit options available, no matter where you are in the country.
If they can figure out reliable 5G in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, surely they can install an antenna on grandpa’s farm and beam a 2.5Gbps signal directly to his rooftop. I mean my 1400Mbps line comes in through a 5G gateway sitting in my kitchen window sill and it has been just as reliable as fiber for me, even with a giant pine tree in the way blocking line-of-sight to the tower. ISPs need to stop making up excuses, and actually start investing those outrageous monthly fees they collect into better infrastructure.
What ISP do you have, $50 sounds great. My gb never goes beyond 450mbps but it definitely drops to sub 10mbps sometimes. And that’s $70/month. Which I thought I was doing fairly well after coming off how bad Spectrum was for me previously. (Mine currently is through the local power/water company)
Verizon 5G Home Internet. The one with the big box that goes in your window, not the one with the smaller box that can go anywhere in the house.
This really depends on where you live. All broadnands are micro monopolies. I wish we’d pull a EU and split infrastructure and service. We’d get better speeds and prices everywhere
