FCC proposes higher speed goals (100/20 Mbps) for USF providers

Tue May 24 18:30:35 UTC 2022

On 5/24/2022 10:48 AM, Mitchell Tanenbaum via NANOG wrote:
>
> I have two fixed wireless Internet connections here.  One is 25/5, the 
> other is 35/5.  There is no cable, no fiber, no cellular, not even DSL 
> from the phone company.  That is reality in metro Denver, CO 
> (actually, the foothills, 25 miles from the state Capitol building).
>
> Regarding Starlink, no, you can’t get it.  I paid my deposit a year 
> and a half ago and I am still on the waiting list.  Every time that I 
> get close to the date they promise, they change the promise. Maybe I 
> will get Starlink service some time in the future, but, not any time soon.
>
> Oh, yeah, and 25 meg down costs $75 a month.  If you want VoIP, that 
> is another $20+.
>
> So not only is it slow, it is expensive too.
>
> So yes, there still is a problem, right here in America.  And not just 
> in the boonies.
>
> Mitch
>

This brings up another issues no one is really talking about and that's 
affordability.  We're about to lower our price on 10G to the home to 
$50/mo because that was the number the FCC would pay people who 
qualified.  Now they've lowered that subsidy to $30.  The pandemic 
exposed the fact that there are a lot of people out there that just 
can't afford the current pricing structure.  We give a gig away for free 
with a one time install fee and we had people calling us who's kids were 
at home for school and they couldn't afford the $25/mo we'd break their 
$300 install into.  We ended up just waiving a ton of fees during those 
early COVID days.

Aaron