The US And The Cost of Laying Fibre

[GhostShip]

To deliver or not, that is the only question.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080131-fixing-us-broadband-100-billion-for-fiber-to-every-home.html

The US is in desperate need of 100Mbps "big broadband." That's the conclusion of a new report from EDUCAUSE, a group that represents IT managers at over 2,200 colleges and universities.
The report opens by citing the familiar, dreary facts: US broadband might now be widely available, but it's slow and relatively expensive. Between 1999 and 2006, the US fell from third place to 20th in the International Telecommunications Union's broadband usage measurements. When it comes to average connection speeds, the US isn't beaten just by Japan but also by France, Korea, Sweden, New Zealand, Italy, Finland, Portugal, Australia, Norway, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

The solution, according to the report, is the construction of a national fiber network that would reach every home and business, with the $100 billion cost split equally between the federal government, the states, and a private- or public-sector entity that would actually build and maintain the network. Because fiber networks can increase speeds simply by carrying more wavelengths at once, the report notes that such an investment in infrastructure might "provide adequate broadband connectivity for several decades."

All that's needed is $8 billion a year for four years from the feds, with the states also coming up (collectively) with the same amount.

This is of course nothing new, in this report all the major reasons to update the existing network are well documented and accepted by all parties, the hold up is in ISP companies telling shareholders that they need to hold on a while from collecting dividends on their investments and have faith in the eventual outcome and explosive increase in profits that will definitely see both consumers and ISP companies satisfied with their bandwidth capabilities for the foreseable future.

Perhaps a state by state roll-out could make the cost more acceptable, and lets be clear on one aspect of delaying, the cost of raw materials never goes down.

[MinersLantern]

bull-shit.
we in Amerika have already paid for nationwide fiber years ago in the form of tax cuts to the providers, with the understanding that the money was to be used to upgrade to fiber. Did it happen? No. Did they Still get the tax cut? Yes.
Companies who engage in Fraud should have all their EO's lined up and shot, on CNN, right in front of the children, on saturday morning, in between the cartoons.

[]-[êll.Ôñ.ËÀR'][']-[.]

lmao can we add trafic wardens to that list also