Posted on 07/29/2025 8:29:04 AM PDT by Twotone
Biden’s broadband plan wasted billions, favored political allies, and failed rural voters. Trump scrapped it — and Democrats are furious.
President Trump has consistently applied one simple litmus test to any government program: Does it work?
If so — a rare occurrence — he keeps it. If not, he either ends it or reforms it. Intentions, noble or otherwise, count for nothing. Execution is everything.
For Americans, this is good news. For bureaucrats who enjoy wasting taxpayer dollars while pretending to serve the public, it’s a nightmare.
From zero to nowhere
If you need an example, just look at the Trump administration’s recent decision to overhaul the Biden administration’s ill-conceived Broadband Equity and Development program. As with anything with the word “equity” in the name, this program was a rat’s nest of inefficiency and corruption hiding beneath the rock of good intentions.
The program, launched in 2021, promised to provide $42 billion in subsidies to expand broadband internet in underdeveloped areas. This sounds good in theory, especially for rural voters who historically have voted for President Trump.
How many people did this program actually connect to the internet? Zero — yet another example of a government program that failed to execute on its lofty goals, wasting taxpayer dollars in the process.
The reasons for this failure are multifaceted. First, the program was burdened with woke mandates and entrenched political favoritism. Instead of targeting the most effective solution for rural areas, it prioritized fiber — literally the least efficient internet technology for rural residents — which can cost more than $100,000 per household. This made it impractical for rural America, where the internet infrastructure is desperately needed.
Meanwhile, the best solution — satellite internet, which can cost just a few hundred dollars per receiver — was passed over. Why would the Biden administration prioritize the more expensive, inefficient option? Simple: The fiber industry is aligned with pro-amnesty and diversity, equity, and inclusion agendas. The industry’s political ties to leftist causes won them a sweetheart deal at the expense of taxpayers and genuine competition.
The Trump administration took one look at this deal and decided enough was enough. It has since restored fair competition and saved taxpayer dollars. In the words of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the administration's new reforms will ensure the BEAD program “will deliver high-speed internet access efficiently on a technology-neutral basis, and at the right price.”
Screaming cronies
Predictably, the Democrats cried foul. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) led the charge, conveniently throwing out her anti-corporate bona fides and becoming the fiber industry’s best friend. She signed on to a letter with 21 House Democrats making the allegation that “any objective assessment of the technologies available to provide broadband would conclude that fiber optic technology far exceeds any other in its capability to provide future-proof speeds and network capacity.”
This claim is absurd — and not merely because most of the signatories are from big cities, completely ignorant as to what works in rural America.
Don’t just take my word for it. Listen to Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), or anyone who isn’t blinded by political favoritism or corporate cronyism.
Ocasio-Cortez’s letter is also a complete non sequitur. It would be one thing if the program had been destroyed — but it hasn’t. It’s simply been reformed to allow every potential internet provider to compete, unhinged by political agenda and favoritism. That’s it.
Trump restores the free market
If fiber and broadband really are superior, they should have no trouble winning in a fair competition. But they won’t, because their strategy has always been cronyism, not competition.
President Trump saw through that playbook, and with any luck, red states will follow suit. Only then will these industries be forced to wave the red flag, which has been their banner all along: the red flag of communist cronyism.
“Fiber optic is far cheaper than satellites.”
I’d dispute that. I was in that business for 10 years. Even in rural areas fiber costs run somewhere around $250-300 per foot in the ground. In dense urban areas that quickly goes to $8,000 to $10,000 per FOOT.
Then there are the access issues. Got a stream or river in the way? You’re done. Railroad rights of way? You’re done. It takes 6 months to a year to get them to sign off crossing their tracks.
We used to joke that we were really a paving company that happened to leave fiber in the ground.
So a blanket statement like that makes no sense to me.
L
I am sort of lucky..got dialup in 97,progressivelu increased from 14.4 to 56k over several years,then DSL on the copper at 256k.Which soon increased to 1M.
Was in the first of my area to get FORCEDfiber optic at 1G.(because the copper was abandoned once fiber was buried).Crew took a week or two burying 1.5 miles longitudally boring through the rocks!
Been paying $85 monthly for a long time.
Backup battery keeps phone for a few hours but not router.
Tempted to go Boost or Tmobile.
” promised to provide $42 billion in subsidies to expand broadband internet in underdeveloped areas. This sounds good in theory,”
BULLCRAP. Why should anyone pay for someone’s internet service. Besides. “Broadband” is outdated already. By the time even an inch of new cable would be laid the next generation of satellite internet will be up and running.
I don’t have a land line anymore, but if anyone does are you still paying the “rural connectivity tax”
Usually the fiber optic systems have battery backups. Ours does, about a mile down the road, IIRC. There’s also a backup battery just for the module in our house. When it failed, I just asked the rural telephone company that is our ISP for a new battery. They dropped it off @ my back door when I was away - then couldn’t decide if I needed to return the old one or not. They finally decide “not” and it’s a paperweight now. ;-)
I’d like to know how the article writer came up with $100,000 per customer for installation of fiber optic to a residence. Where was that, in the Absaroka Mountains?
(Then again, if environmental impact statements are required for each residence, I could believe it!)
I have Starlink. Nothing but 5g available otherwise but i use a lot of bandwidth for streaming and cameras and other internet decvices. I’d dump it for cable or fiber though.
We got fiber optic this year and the phone company got over a dozen new trucks. Meanwhile union workers from out of state had to do the splicing as per fedgov grant rules. The new trucks are parked behind the phone company and I’ve never seen one out and about. New company name too. Boondoggle.
The problem is, running fiber or cable to a lot really remote locations is very expensive.
Biden was the democrats gold mine for spending and setting up Trump for a chaos list to clean up.
They will not sleep well for the next 3 years.
Yes it is. We were quoted 14k to have cable extended to us.
Nice on Starlink - US pricing is running at least 2+X that.
“I wonder who owns Mediacom. I’d bet some DNC connected person who got paid plenty to lay cable, but not to actually connect anyone.”
I’m in red Alabama but yeah, the kick backs are pretty much taken for granted.
“We have been on Starlink for at least 3 years and couldn’t be happier!”
I get decent speeds with T Mobile Home Internet, no data cap, and it’s only $65 a month with no equipment charge. I’m staying with that for now. Quick story: I knocked my router off the shelf and broke it. T Mobile sent me a new one. I managed to screw up the socket for the SIM card while installing it (yes, I’m an idiot). They sent me another router again, and didn’t charge me a dime. I kind of feel like I owe them.
We are probably still spending billions on Al Gores dial-up modems.
The time, labor and material cost of running cable or fiber for potentially miles for a relatively few number of users is cost prohibitive versus a single dish per user
Photo of cables being dug up by excavator.
Looks like spaghetti being swirled on a spoon.
https://tinyurl.com/2ssnm7dv
And of cource they didn't do it for anyone else's good just their own greed.
“My” backup battery doesnt power the router.Had same experience as you when first battery died.
Contemplating install BIG battery for router and fiber unit.
Yeah, my router is powered off the UPS for my main desktop computer.
I still have a monstrous old UPS that takes 2 automotive size batteries. Maybe someday I’ll revive it...
Yeah, it’s not exactly encouraging when the service drops out at the most critical times!
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