It's not that nefarious, it's more "we're a bunch of wealthy assholes and we know the best way to make the most money without having to actually make something worth a shit is to privatize necessities and then monopolize them. You literally need to buy from me! Also, you lot don't work hard enough."
My mom works with internet people. I remember when I was a kid she was making fun of them for saying internet should be a basic human right. Nowadays, it would be hard to find someone who doesn't think that lol
Markets are extremely bad when it comes to proper allocation of essentials. Infrastructure in general should be nationalized at minimum, and heavily invested in.
The local fiber provider skipped my street altogether because spectrum has a contract with the apartments, and they don't think it's worth running fiber to compete. I wish this was a joke. The providers are literally NOT competing at all. Residential homeowners are screwed because spectrum has a chokehold on the other half of the neighborhood.
It's literally a fucking necessity so if course it's privately owned... It's so ridiculous how we treat necessities... Tell me what job you can apply to that doesn't require it to be done over the Internet?
I remember when I could walk in to a store and shake the managers hand, then things changed and I got looked at like I was crazy "just go online and apply, why are you here?"
Full agreement, way ahead of you. Instead of having a robust, publicly funded infrastructure-based necessity (internet service), it gets chopped up and sold piece-by-piece with price-gouging and local monopolies like warlords.
the sad bit is, wireline internet providers could sell $30 per month high-speed internet and still make money at that lower rate and without subsidies.
In a city a connection like that is probably going to be in the area of $60 to $100. I pay $80 all in for a similar fiber connection.
Outside of a city you just aren't going to get it.
There are a few places that have Community ISPs where it will be substantially less expensive, but those are the exceptions and many states have actually made it illegal to operate community ISPs.
paying almost $90 now, here, for supposedly 300mbps (downstream) that barely ever gets past 60. there are people near me that pay about the same for 1mbps or less dsl (just outside of cable's territory, so dsl is all they have)
I pay $100 a month in a rural area for 12down/500kup by bridging two DSL connections, the only thing I can get in the woods. I can't watch Hulu and browse the Internet at the same time.
With the amount of companies requiring you to fill out applications online, emails being the main method of communication before a phone interview, and the amount of people doing virtual interviews; I would say it absolutely is a necessity to not just fitting into a modern society, but being a part of one.
It's not always a necessity, but the opportunity cost of not having Internet can prevent you from meeting other necessities. For example, a lot of jobs require Internet to apply. Not getting a better job might mean you can't afford food or housing.
Lot of Republican governors of states that signed a letter urging this subsidy to be renewed. Seriously, broadband subsidies for rural areas should be renewed.
Lmao, their problem with it, is that the vast majority of people using the ACP already had Internet before signing up....Which just proves how much of a necessity Internet is.
Republican members of Congress blasted a program that gives $30 monthly broadband discounts to people with low incomes, accusing the Federal Communications Commission of being "wasteful."
The lawmakers suggested in a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel that they may try to block funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which is expected to run out of money in April 2024.
The letter questioned Rosenworcel's testimony at a recent House hearing in which she warned that 25 million households could lose Internet access if Congress doesn't renew the ACP discounts.
"At a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on November 30, 2023, you asserted—without evidence and contrary to the FCC's own data—that '25 million households' would be 'unplug[ged]…from the Internet' if Congress does not provide new funding for the ACP," the letter said.
As Congress considers the future of taxpayer broadband subsidies, we ask you to correct the hearing record and make public accurate information about the ACP."
Unfortunately, your testimony pushes "facts" about the ACP that are deeply misleading and have the potential to exacerbate the fiscal crisis without producing meaningful benefits to the American consumer.
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We're is this technology related? It's completely political - something I don't want to see, but now also technology cannot be followed anymore, as most things here are political news with a tech keyword in the headline sadly :/
But isn't broadband access one of the main requirements for using technology? I understand not wanting to interact with politics, but nothing in our life is truly separated from it.
If your kid is the better player but the coach picks his kid to be on the team then that’s politics
If company puts a paid OS on their IBM machines because it’s made by the son of someone on their board instead of the superior free option then that’s politics