Posted on 03/12/2021 6:41:35 AM PST by Brookhaven
A new bill aims to make high-speed internet more accessible everywhere in the US, including far-flung locations and underserved communities. House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn has introduced the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act (PDF), which will spend $94 billion to ensure that unserved and persistent poverty communities have access to affordable high-speed internet. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), co-chairperson of the Senate Broadband Caucus, has also introduced the bill in the Senate.
Clyburn said in a statement:
"Access to broadband today will have the same dramatic impact on rural communities as the rural electrification efforts in the last century. When I formed the Rural Broadband Task Force, our mission was to address the digital divide. The disparate effects of that divide have been amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic and exposed the urgency of ensuring universal access to high-speed internet. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House and Senate to enact the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act."
(Excerpt) Read more at engadget.com ...
Instead of living near a major city, I'd be living in rural Alabama IF I could get high speed internet access.
The marketplace is already solving this problem - Elon Musk Starlink
Well, if you want the 1984 style TV that watches you for them, you’re going to need dependable high speed internet.
They definitely have a dog in this hunt, and it isn’t about making our lives easier.
BTW, I say that as a guy in the sticks with “less than reliable” internet.
And Branson's competing offering, Oneweb.
I don’t want high speed Internet access out here in the sticks.
It would be high-speed .gov snooping and monitoring—no f*&^ing way.
That is why I oppose 5G and similar technologies—no wild conspiracy theory, just a reasonable fear of out of control .gov and high tech robber barons.
Everyone should have access to unicorn farts.
SMDH! Don’t know about the rest of you but I FEEEELLLL SOOOO guilty for having had access to fairly high speed internet that I’m going back to dial up so some underserved person near me can have my high speed link. I should probably even pay for their hook up. Or not.
I tell people that you can't go out in the deep woods these days without wondering whether you're being recorded by a trail cam [during deer season, ALL my buddies have trail cams watching their bait piles. They call it "deer teevee" when they watch the video back at camp at night.].
Imagine if they could retrieve the contents of trail cams 20 miles from nowhere with the touch of a button...
High speed internet so poor people can watch more Netflix, Amazon Prime, and porn.
If they are poor, how do they afford the subscription fees?
Um, if available, I'm pretty sure nobody would force it on you.
SMDH! Don’t know about the rest of you but I FEEEELLLL SOOOO guilty for having had access to fairly high speed internet that I’m going back to dial up so some underserved person near me can have my high speed link. I should probably even pay for their hook up. Or not.
There is a guy I let hunt on my property. One time he showed me an image from his deer cam of someone none of us know going through with a bow and arrow.
>>The disparate effects of that divide have been amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic and exposed the urgency of ensuring universal access to high-speed internet.
“Ah can’t watch pay-per-view movies in 4K HD!!!”
I thought the Universal connectivity Tax on cell phones that Clinton passed and Gore bragged about was supposed to do this?
>> I should probably even pay for their hook up.
If you have a land-line phone you ARE.
Remember Al Gore’s $5+ phone bill tax to give low income people free internet.
That sucker is never going away and may have risen.
It’s one of the reasons I dropped my landline. My phone bill was like $35 base cost or $50+ with taxes and fees and if I made an in-state long distance call I’d pay a $5 surcharge that month and about $8 for the call.
Obamacare for the internet.
You can get a lot of content for free if you’re willing to watch advertisements.
Don’t forget that cv-19 is spread by the 5g networks. Heard that someplace.
Let me guess: 80% of the money will go to black inner city neighborhoods and 20% will be split among rural Kentucky, West Virginia, Wyoming, etc.
And BTW, “high speed” is relative. What seems like “high speed” today will seem like molasses in a few years.
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