California bill would force ISPs to offer 100Mbps plans for $15 a month | Hacker News Reader

California bill would force ISPs to offer 100Mbps plans for $15 a month

arstechnica.com

17 pointspseudolus7 comments

* for households in which at least one resident participates in a qualified public assistance program

Seems like an extremely important detail that would make Ars' headline less clickbaity.

At my California apartment building two years ago, the internet lines for AT&T were run underground into the building, unlike every other building in the square mile, and the city has permitting regulations for underground conduits on multifamily properties that are currently excluding any other ISPs from providing service to my building. The apartment building also has a deal with AT&T where the fiber modems are preinstalled in-unit and the minimum service price is $50/mo. No low-income prices or services whatsoever are offered to residents of “AT&T Connected Communities”. I expect the building owners get a kickback for this outcome.

I sincerely hope this bill is made law.

That shouldn't be too difficult should it?

Romania and a few other "2nd world" countries can hack it, so why can't the US?

Oh I just remembered. It is the country where people in dire need worry about a $3000 dollar charge for taking them to a hospital. We are not even going get started on the hospital charges.

The thing about "first world" countries is that the people who build and maintain things expect to be paid first world wages. We've started to find some workarounds to this (eg teleoperated food delivery from developing countries with low latency) but it's an ongoing process.

First world wages go to cover higher rents.

Which is why China is beating America because too much expenditure goes on rents and by rents I don't mean building rents, but the whole chain of bodies that take the cream of the top of everything that is produced, even before the production starts.

ISPs have been selling 1G and multi-gig speeds so hard, people seem to feel inadequate if they don’t have such.

“oh no, I have 4 phones and 4 tablets —- is 1G enough ??”

Most people will be happy with 100mbps.

> For low income residents

Congress seems to struggle with simple concepts, but somehow they're able to fix prices accurately for telecom services. I wonder what kind of discovery went into fixing this price.

> Each ISP would also be required to "make commercially reasonable efforts to promote and advertise" these plans, including … promotional materials sent to consumers in eligible households. [emphasis mine]

Economics aside, they seem to be capable of making the best decisions surrounding marketing as well. I do find the concept of government-mandated junk mail to be somewhat interesting, especially coming from the same-ish government that made a big deal about plastic straws. Again, was there some sort of research into the efficacy of telecom marketing-by-junkmail or did it just seem kind of expected to whomever was writing the bill for the congressperson?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com