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Why Is US Broadband So Slow?

Posted by timothy on from the midichlorion-concentrations-vary-by-continent dept.

phantomfive writes "Verizon has said they will not be digging new lines any time soon. Time-Warner's cash flow goes towards paying down debt, not laying down fiber. AT&T is doing everything they can to slow deployment of Google fiber. How can the situation be improved? Mainly by expediting right-of-way access, permits, and inspections, according to Andy Kessler. That is how Google was able to afford to lay down fiber in Austin, and how VTel was able to do it in Vermont (gigabit connections for $35 a month)."

3 of 513 comments (clear)

  1. How can the situation be improved? by fustakrakich · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Competition... From the government, if necessary. Let's put our tax dollars to work for us for a change.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:How can the situation be improved? by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It's not competition, it's service

      Say what ??

      Back in the late 1980's and early 1990's, US used to be the top country in the world in term of broadband competition.

      I was one of the many thousands who were pulling cables in order to hook up the communities - and then the government stepped in, and gave the telco / cable operator the rights over others - which leads to what we have today, a scene where competition has been artificially choked off, and the country has suffered for it !

      --
      Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    2. Re:How can the situation be improved? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You've just noted that there is an existing infrastructure, and it is common to live off of existing infrastructure until forced to move off it. To that I will add that if I recall correctly, 10 years ago 90% of the optical fiber that existed was dark - there wasn't enough demand for it due to overbuilding in previous years. I wouldn't be surprised if that had something to do with the leisurely pace in adding both capacity and speed.

      Bingo. The ISP I work for isn't looking at laying new fiber in trenches, what we're looking at is upgrading the equipment on either end. There are plenty of situations where an existing fiber pair can carry 10x or 100x more data simply by putting better optics on it, but that shit isn't cheap. Then you have to figure that Carrier-grade routers and switches also need to be upgraded, and those things can get really fucking expensive. And all the internal bandwidth in the world won't do your customer jack shit if you can't find peering/transit partners who are willing to increase the capacity at the handoff points without charging a shitload of money.

      Sure, more fiber is better, but it's only a small part of the overall picture.