Not Every census block - only un-served census blocks could be bid on. FCC considers a census block completely served if only even one address in that block has available broadband. Congress told the FCC to fix the mapping, but the FCC has done nothing, saying that they have no money to make the fix.
The result is that many residents of the US are not eligible for federal help, despite having no broadband options.
Large telcos opposing accurate mapping, as the current process both hides their lack of service and preserves areas without service, should they ever feel the need to expand without competition.
Grants were done at the census block level, which is a major cause of the crazy coverage. It is well known that FCC coverage maps are badly inaccurate, due to them considering an entire census block having broadband, if even 1 address in the block does. Conversely, odd census blocks with few households and no broadband are eligible for grants, explaining the crazy grant areas.
Fixing the maps will prevent this problem in the future. Use address level granularity, not census blocks. Pretty simple. Carriers lobby against this, as it will expose their spotty coverage. FCC stalls, as accurate data will expose a larger problem than currently claimed.
I was under the impression that WISPs were mostly in rural areas, not urban. With StarLink planning on providing higher speeds and eliminating the line-of-sight limitations I'm guessing that they'll be tough competition for the WISPs.
As a current WISP customer, I get reliable, albeit slow and expensive, service. 8Mbs down for $99/month. With StarLink rolling out much faster service for that same price, I'm switching once I see StarLink demonstrate reliability. I suspect many others will do the same.
Now, if my WISP could match the higher speed and not raise the price, I might consider staying. Customer service isn't important. Reliability is. If the service is down, all the customer service in the world does not help.
StarLink is going after the same set of users that lack the last mile of connectivity. With faster service and competitive pricing, StarLink may kill off some or many WISPs.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by BudTugglie.
There was success
There was one success. The money was spent.
Re: Re: All of the above notwithstanding...
Not Every census block - only un-served census blocks could be bid on. FCC considers a census block completely served if only even one address in that block has available broadband. Congress told the FCC to fix the mapping, but the FCC has done nothing, saying that they have no money to make the fix.
The result is that many residents of the US are not eligible for federal help, despite having no broadband options.
Large telcos opposing accurate mapping, as the current process both hides their lack of service and preserves areas without service, should they ever feel the need to expand without competition.
Bad coverage mapping is at fault
Grants were done at the census block level, which is a major cause of the crazy coverage. It is well known that FCC coverage maps are badly inaccurate, due to them considering an entire census block having broadband, if even 1 address in the block does. Conversely, odd census blocks with few households and no broadband are eligible for grants, explaining the crazy grant areas.
Fixing the maps will prevent this problem in the future. Use address level granularity, not census blocks. Pretty simple. Carriers lobby against this, as it will expose their spotty coverage. FCC stalls, as accurate data will expose a larger problem than currently claimed.
Re: Re: StarLink may be the end for many WISPs
I was under the impression that WISPs were mostly in rural areas, not urban. With StarLink planning on providing higher speeds and eliminating the line-of-sight limitations I'm guessing that they'll be tough competition for the WISPs.
As a current WISP customer, I get reliable, albeit slow and expensive, service. 8Mbs down for $99/month. With StarLink rolling out much faster service for that same price, I'm switching once I see StarLink demonstrate reliability. I suspect many others will do the same.
Now, if my WISP could match the higher speed and not raise the price, I might consider staying. Customer service isn't important. Reliability is. If the service is down, all the customer service in the world does not help.
StarLink may be the end for many WISPs
StarLink is going after the same set of users that lack the last mile of connectivity. With faster service and competitive pricing, StarLink may kill off some or many WISPs.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by BudTugglie.
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