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Alternately, they could introduce more pricing regulations and antitrust crackdowns on internet providers, introduce legislation to explicitly allow municipal internet access, etc.
We have the 6th most expensive internet in the world; if we had cheaper internet (on par with what other first world countries offer), we wouldn't need these subsidies because it'd be cheap enough anyway.
introduce legislation to explicitly allow municipal internet access, etc.
Municipal broadband is illegal in North Carolina. In the early 2000s one small city pushed forward with municipal broadband, and the North Carolina Telecommunication Association, an industry lobby group, lobbied the North Carolina General Assembly for a state bill to make it nearly impossible for a city to run its own internet service. Over the course of six years, the telecommunication industry gave $1.6 million to state candidates and political parties. AT&T gave over $520,000 and Time Warner Cable (now Spectrum) and CenturyLink each gave over $300,000. Then, in 2011, both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly were won by Republicans for the first time since Reconstruction. The bill passed and was signed into law.
Proving once again that until Republicans are voted out of office en masse, only an infinitesimal fraction of the programs and initiatives that real people want will ever see the light of day. Unfortunately there's only so much Democrats in the White House and Congress can do as long as people keep voting against their own self interest.
edit to add:
Oh, and how's this for an interesting timeline:
2006: City of Wilson begins municipal broadband program
2011: Thom Tillis (Speaker of the House) helps pass S.L. 2011-84 to effectively ban municipal broadband
2015: The FCC stepped in to green light Wilson's program and preempt S.L. 2011-84, and Tillis was elected to the US Senate
2016: A federal appeals court ruled that the FCC overstepped its authority in preempting NC's ban, and Tillis cheered
2020: Tillis re-elected
2023: Tillis brags about Biden's BIL, which sent $1.53 billion to NC via the BEAD Program, and NC DIT's own BEAD 5-Year Plan had this to say:
The result [of S.L. 2011-84] is a limit on the number of options available for broadband service, particularly in areas where the private sector is not providing adequate, affordable service. Several municipalities were grandfathered and allowed to continue service with certain geographical restrictions. (NCGS 160A-340) Additionally, this statute created a chilling effect for local governments interested in exploring alternative networks like open access networks. Municipalities that own conduit and dark fiber have been reluctant to lease their infrastructure to private internet service providers or create open access networks operated by a private entity for fear of violating the statute.
Officials sold out for $1.6 million? It's legit depressing how little the rights of their constituents are worth to them. Telcos making billions and these nobs hand everything away for a pittance.
This is the exact case I was referring to there. Having a public option for internet access, even if it was relatively slow compared to the big name brands, would be a huge step forward in terms of guaranteeing internet access for everyone. So of course the big players are going to go to whatever lengths they can to avoid it ever seeing the light of day. :(
We shouldn't be subsidizing giant corporations in the first place. How about just making proper, consumer protecting regulations instead?
Looking at the policy on the website here it looks like it's actually fairly reasonable. If you make less than x, are using a listed governmental assistance program, or qualify for the low-income isp plan then the cost is $30/month for 100Mbps Internet. The benefit that's listed in the article is the current subsidy that would remove the rest of the cost.
Well, that's not really the problem. The problem is that the government is covering the difference (through subsidizing the mega-corps that offer this).
Because that would be actually doing something that isn't killing brown people across the ocean.
Internet has always struck me as something that should be nationalized and supplied by the state (for free)
Everyone needs it and the whole nation just gets squeezed by these companies.
And requires a lot of infrastructure on public roads and poles. Why this is still private after it was clear ISPs operated like gangs with turf is beyond me. It was clear that it should be nationalized 2 decades ago.
The Constitution explicitly calls for the creation of the post office and postal roads. The same rationale that enabling fast reliable communication is a duty of government could easily be extended to the internet. It Biden pushed for this, emphasizing how it would enable people living in small rural towns to work remotely, he would steal a large amount of traditionally Republican voters.
Even in high density cities. Google fiber failed to bring fast and cheap internet to most of the country because the ISP mafias made it impossible.
Ohh, you need access to this public pole? Well, by law (that we lobbied for), you have to have a representative from each ISP connected to that pole to be present. Looks like we're booked for a year. Oh, sorry, something came up and we weren't able to make the meeting you set up a year ago. Guess you'll have to try again, but oh look, we're booked for another years. Sowee
My power company put in fiber. Now my internet is a coop utility. 0 reason this shouldn't be nation wide, especially for coops
The subsidies ISPs who spent their time hiking up rates on their customers and blocking access to actual high-speed fiber lines that are already there? What good were those subsidies doing for the people anyhow?