Concerning the rush by government and others to get broadband service provided in rural areas which too many do not have, I think people need to know the difference between broadband and cable/FIOS before they make up their mind which to establish as an effective and economical means of accessing internet service in those remote areas at an affordable price. I live in one of those remote areas in Hanover County, Virginia so I know only too well the problems dealing with the lack of affordable and dependable service.
First let me explain the difference between the two services as I understand them from personal experience you could say broadband compares to the old AM use on your radio in which constantly received interference from lightning in thunderstorms to poor reception to no reception in areas too far distant from the radio station. Such is the case with broadband. When I used it with Clearwire many disruptions of service occurred due to changing weather patterns, wind direction and rain. Such disruptions could last for hours or even days. As a result I would give them a rating of being able to use their service about 75% of the time I needed to use it.
In contrast with cable/FIOS. I started to use Comcast, a cable provider, when Clearwire went out of business as I could find no other reliable and affordable internet provider in the area. Since I have had Comcast the reception is about 98% reliable allowing for outages due to severe storms (lightning hitting a pole and knocking out service or someone with their car hitting a pole or some digging underground rupturing a cable but outside of that to me it is highly reliable compared to broad band.
The other important matter to consider in the matter is the cost. It is hard to determine which is more affordable as costs on both services are constantly rising with the companies not caring about losing customers only to make a profit at all costs. This is truly unfair and deprives much of the public in rural areas accessibility to the internet over which President Trump and some Congressmen on both sides of the aisle have expressed concern and have introduced legislation to correct the problem by pushing for broadband service while not even attempting to provide cable/Fiois which is far more reliable but unfortunately rather costly
My own Congressman has been pushing for band service for over 10 years but nothing has been accomplished with Verizon FIOS only ¾ of a mile from my home and Verizon has done nothing to expand it in my direction. That is why I presently support net neutrality as nothing is getting done in my neck of the woods to deal with the problem.
And now we turn to a new problem developing with those who have TV with an antennae. The FCC is making major changes in frequency on their networks forcing a rescan of your TV which is making finding a TV signal extremely difficult, if not impossible, to locate resulting in black screens and total loss of internet. Right now my TV is virtually useless and can get only 3 channels instead of the usual 8 or 9 I usually get. One neighbor complained if his TV screen didn’t start picking up the signal he would go out for a few beers.
I am afraid it is a result of greed. They no longer want to allow us free TV which was a blessing for many who could not afford cable although you had much too many commercials anyway but that was to pay for the “free TV” and now they want us to pay through the nose for access plus getting the revenue for the commercials.
If we are really serious about getting reliable internet service for rural areas at affordable prices the way to go is through cable/FIOS rather than broadband. I am afraid this will never happen as long as their lust for greed continues. One of the reasons our constitution gave us freedom of the press was to guarantee the public dissemination of the news necessary for them to make informed decisions regarding certain areas of their lives particularly in the government from depriving them of their constitutional rights.
It seems to me the media in the broadcasting field is depriving us of that right by making it too unaffordable. The broadcasting media needs to realize that it can be a matter of life and death to many if they do not have free or affordable access to emergency information like weather or other catastrophic events.
It is time for the corporations in America to start putting human life and the environment ahead of profits and meeting their bottom line. It is truly a life and death issue
I am sending a copy of this editorial to the President and my Congressman both of whom which I mentioned above are very much interested in pushing broadband as a solution to the lack of internet service in rural areas.
First let me explain the difference between the two services as I understand them from personal experience you could say broadband compares to the old AM use on your radio in which constantly received interference from lightning in thunderstorms to poor reception to no reception in areas too far distant from the radio station. Such is the case with broadband. When I used it with Clearwire many disruptions of service occurred due to changing weather patterns, wind direction and rain. Such disruptions could last for hours or even days. As a result I would give them a rating of being able to use their service about 75% of the time I needed to use it.
In contrast with cable/FIOS. I started to use Comcast, a cable provider, when Clearwire went out of business as I could find no other reliable and affordable internet provider in the area. Since I have had Comcast the reception is about 98% reliable allowing for outages due to severe storms (lightning hitting a pole and knocking out service or someone with their car hitting a pole or some digging underground rupturing a cable but outside of that to me it is highly reliable compared to broad band.
The other important matter to consider in the matter is the cost. It is hard to determine which is more affordable as costs on both services are constantly rising with the companies not caring about losing customers only to make a profit at all costs. This is truly unfair and deprives much of the public in rural areas accessibility to the internet over which President Trump and some Congressmen on both sides of the aisle have expressed concern and have introduced legislation to correct the problem by pushing for broadband service while not even attempting to provide cable/Fiois which is far more reliable but unfortunately rather costly
My own Congressman has been pushing for band service for over 10 years but nothing has been accomplished with Verizon FIOS only ¾ of a mile from my home and Verizon has done nothing to expand it in my direction. That is why I presently support net neutrality as nothing is getting done in my neck of the woods to deal with the problem.
And now we turn to a new problem developing with those who have TV with an antennae. The FCC is making major changes in frequency on their networks forcing a rescan of your TV which is making finding a TV signal extremely difficult, if not impossible, to locate resulting in black screens and total loss of internet. Right now my TV is virtually useless and can get only 3 channels instead of the usual 8 or 9 I usually get. One neighbor complained if his TV screen didn’t start picking up the signal he would go out for a few beers.
I am afraid it is a result of greed. They no longer want to allow us free TV which was a blessing for many who could not afford cable although you had much too many commercials anyway but that was to pay for the “free TV” and now they want us to pay through the nose for access plus getting the revenue for the commercials.
If we are really serious about getting reliable internet service for rural areas at affordable prices the way to go is through cable/FIOS rather than broadband. I am afraid this will never happen as long as their lust for greed continues. One of the reasons our constitution gave us freedom of the press was to guarantee the public dissemination of the news necessary for them to make informed decisions regarding certain areas of their lives particularly in the government from depriving them of their constitutional rights.
It seems to me the media in the broadcasting field is depriving us of that right by making it too unaffordable. The broadcasting media needs to realize that it can be a matter of life and death to many if they do not have free or affordable access to emergency information like weather or other catastrophic events.
It is time for the corporations in America to start putting human life and the environment ahead of profits and meeting their bottom line. It is truly a life and death issue
I am sending a copy of this editorial to the President and my Congressman both of whom which I mentioned above are very much interested in pushing broadband as a solution to the lack of internet service in rural areas.