I’d be much more impressed if these vendors stopped hiding behind lame policies and just stated something like “Look, it’s not policy. We feel we can’t take the risk with the current political climate. We’d love to do business with you but have decided it’s not in our best interest.”
If the USPS was perfect at it's actual job, you know, delivering mail, this story would be contentious enough. But when you add in the fact that the USPS can't actually deliver mail correctly it makes me wonder why this money isn't getting spent on improving service.
Repeated calls to our local post master has resulted in the following: Mail randomly getting delivered within a half mile of it's actual destination. The USPS better hope its future never comes down to a thumbs up/down vote on my behalf.
This work will benefit ZERO other people. Most of my neighbors already have Comcast, they got special pricing when the cable was initially installed. Most of this cost is related to cables/lines/poles not being in the actual easement, the power company having equipment located on the wrong side of the pole, and especially Comcast only wanting to do things the most expensive way possible.
Comcast will only use directional boring to lay cable anymore. Which is very expensive around here, anywhere from $15 to $25 a foot. Some of the cable would lie in a right-a-way and needs boring to not disturb the surface. The majority of the cable on my actual property could be trenched at a much lower cost. Comcast doesn't want to do that.
Somehow the power company not locating equipment correctly becomes my financial liability. ( So much for regulated industries. ) Also, the power company fixing this issue could take up to a year, if they're willing to do it at all. ( Again, so much for regulated industries. )
If the Starlink system falls through and I can't get it or it won't work in my location I'm resigned to the following:
1) I'll personally be laying the infrastructure on my property myself. I'll be trenching and laying conduit, providing "pads" for repeater equipment, etc.
2) I'll contract a 3rd party myself to do some of the infrastructure work that's in the public easement/right-of-way.
3) Once I've got everything to the point where Comcast just has to come out and physically pull a cable through some conduit then I'll call Comcast for the install.
So, no, that $20,000 won't go to providing any other services to anybody.
"maybe the public would benefit from the government paying for that infrastructure"
And where does government get the money to pay for all this? Oh wait, that's right, they get it from we the tax payers. So either way we're still stuck paying for it. And what happens when government starts paying for things? That right, the prices start going up even more: witness college tuition amounts in the presence of guaranteed government loans.
Everybody wants to make their particular solution sound simple but they completely ignore second and third order effects.
Scandinavia: 463,000 sq/miles with 60 people per sq/mile
Michigan: 97,900 sq/miles
Midwest: 821,000 sq/miles
Contiguous US: 3,199,884 sq/miles
OK, now as an infrastructure supplier, figure out how to make this work! The variety in the US is overwhelming. In New York city you have a population density of 270,000 per sq/mile. Compare this to vast areas of the western US where you might have several people per sq/mile, if that.
One simple solution of "run hard line to everybody" just isn't going to work. And then all that infrastructure has to be maintained.
When people chime in and say "Hey, all you have to do is this...." they usually don't understand the enormity of the problem.
Let me explain. The Comcast physical cable is across the road from me. Seems simple to just call them up and order Internet service. Well because of some odd flukes of the infrastructure: terrain, services not actually located in the easements, power equipment on wrong side of poles, etc, Comcast wants to charge me $20,000 plus to setup service. LOL, yeah right. I'm sorry but their product is no way worth that kind of cash.
So when someone says "Hey, Starlink has high startup costs at $500!" I just laugh because $500 is a drop in the bucket. Heck, sign me up for two just in case one breaks.
This! Exactly this. A lot of installs could be self installs with little to no problems. If there is a problem they can most likely diagnose from the NOC. If a real problem exists then an install fee could be charged, assuming the problem exists on the customer premises and not somewhere else.
I guess this is a good way to bang the populace into complacency. Once you have a critical number of important services tied to Facebook you can't risk having your Facebook account banned.
That pretty much means Facebook becomes funny cat pictures and nothing else, as saying anything critical of anything becomes too risky.
I'm sure it would occur to nobody to make a separate Facebook account for each service one needs to log into.
Just be honest.
I’d be much more impressed if these vendors stopped hiding behind lame policies and just stated something like “Look, it’s not policy. We feel we can’t take the risk with the current political climate. We’d love to do business with you but have decided it’s not in our best interest.”
At least that would show some honesty.
Re: Things can't possibly get more comical than this.
Having visited the local post office I'm pretty sure there haven't been any major changes there in the past 50 years, or more.
Things can't possibly get more comical than this.
If the USPS was perfect at it's actual job, you know, delivering mail, this story would be contentious enough. But when you add in the fact that the USPS can't actually deliver mail correctly it makes me wonder why this money isn't getting spent on improving service.
Repeated calls to our local post master has resulted in the following: Mail randomly getting delivered within a half mile of it's actual destination. The USPS better hope its future never comes down to a thumbs up/down vote on my behalf.
Duh? Maybe? Guess we'll need to see a deeper data dive.
Attention citizens: We will no longer be responding to calls for: drug use, public intoxication and sex work.
911: Hmmm, we don't seem to be getting many calls for: drug use, public intoxication and sex work.
Everybody: Yay! Problem solved.
I understand the complications of an overly militant police force. But at the same time this has a very "Emperor has no clothes" moment.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Starlink is an awesome solution.
This work will benefit ZERO other people. Most of my neighbors already have Comcast, they got special pricing when the cable was initially installed. Most of this cost is related to cables/lines/poles not being in the actual easement, the power company having equipment located on the wrong side of the pole, and especially Comcast only wanting to do things the most expensive way possible.
Comcast will only use directional boring to lay cable anymore. Which is very expensive around here, anywhere from $15 to $25 a foot. Some of the cable would lie in a right-a-way and needs boring to not disturb the surface. The majority of the cable on my actual property could be trenched at a much lower cost. Comcast doesn't want to do that.
Somehow the power company not locating equipment correctly becomes my financial liability. ( So much for regulated industries. ) Also, the power company fixing this issue could take up to a year, if they're willing to do it at all. ( Again, so much for regulated industries. )
If the Starlink system falls through and I can't get it or it won't work in my location I'm resigned to the following:
1) I'll personally be laying the infrastructure on my property myself. I'll be trenching and laying conduit, providing "pads" for repeater equipment, etc.
2) I'll contract a 3rd party myself to do some of the infrastructure work that's in the public easement/right-of-way.
3) Once I've got everything to the point where Comcast just has to come out and physically pull a cable through some conduit then I'll call Comcast for the install.
So, no, that $20,000 won't go to providing any other services to anybody.
Re: Starlink is an awesome solution.
"maybe the public would benefit from the government paying for that infrastructure"
And where does government get the money to pay for all this? Oh wait, that's right, they get it from we the tax payers. So either way we're still stuck paying for it. And what happens when government starts paying for things? That right, the prices start going up even more: witness college tuition amounts in the presence of guaranteed government loans.
Everybody wants to make their particular solution sound simple but they completely ignore second and third order effects.
Re: Starlink is an awesome solution.
Let's look at the following numbers for size:
Scandinavia: 463,000 sq/miles with 60 people per sq/mile
Michigan: 97,900 sq/miles
Midwest: 821,000 sq/miles
Contiguous US: 3,199,884 sq/miles
OK, now as an infrastructure supplier, figure out how to make this work! The variety in the US is overwhelming. In New York city you have a population density of 270,000 per sq/mile. Compare this to vast areas of the western US where you might have several people per sq/mile, if that.
One simple solution of "run hard line to everybody" just isn't going to work. And then all that infrastructure has to be maintained.
When people chime in and say "Hey, all you have to do is this...." they usually don't understand the enormity of the problem.
Re: Re: Starlink is an awesome solution.
I'll be able to order and use Starlink sometime in the near future. If I wait for your solution I'll probably never get broadband.
Starlink is an awesome solution.
Let me explain. The Comcast physical cable is across the road from me. Seems simple to just call them up and order Internet service. Well because of some odd flukes of the infrastructure: terrain, services not actually located in the easements, power equipment on wrong side of poles, etc, Comcast wants to charge me $20,000 plus to setup service. LOL, yeah right. I'm sorry but their product is no way worth that kind of cash.
So when someone says "Hey, Starlink has high startup costs at $500!" I just laugh because $500 is a drop in the bucket. Heck, sign me up for two just in case one breaks.
Re: Speed doesn't really matter with DOCSIS
The building of complacency.
That pretty much means Facebook becomes funny cat pictures and nothing else, as saying anything critical of anything becomes too risky.
I'm sure it would occur to nobody to make a separate Facebook account for each service one needs to log into.
(untitled comment)
A nightly update of this index and an occasional sync of old items would allow one to determine when cases have "disappeared."
As an IT guy I can say that technically this wouldn't be that hard. The limiting factors center around allowed usage of the data from these systems.
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