FCC abolishes gigabit speed goal | Hacker News Reader

FCC abolishes gigabit speed goal

arstechnica.com

35 pointsjonbaer11 comments

I don't really care if the rural areas that voted for this are now stuck with slower speeds, but the bit about it being unfair to satellite Internet providers is obviously just naked corruption.

Biden's broadband bill was designed to connect those rural areas for $50bn but nobody was connected because it was a scam designed to enrich ISPs and driven by ISP lobbyists.

I like how people pretend that history never happened. We're supposed to forget that this happened merely 4 years ago and taxpayer money was not shoveled into the fire pit.

We'll definitely trust you to do another $100bn plan next time you're in power and NOT shovel cash into the fire pit this time.

This scam was covered extensively. 2021 it was law and nothing done by 2024. Absolutely embarrassing. [1]

[1] https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/04/biden-broadband-pro...

I remember this happening during the Bush Jr. years too. The ISPs keep getting away with not being held accountable by government of both parties.

All I know is the current administration prefers satellite, ever since I heard about that Starlink terminal installed to help DOGE exfiltrate information on Americans without going through established secure infrastructure.

after years of German political culture just being US culture wars 10 years delayed, it's great to see the Exportweltmeister contributing back by bringing "Technologieoffenheit" to the states

Better things aren't possible!

So I guess this means starlink and wisp kinds of technologies are being "discriminated against"

I've got fibre to my house. I could pay more for 1Gbps, but I'm currently on 500Mbps and it's good enough. Unless I worked in video editing or did AI training at home or something I don't think I'll upgrade. There's just not that many benefits to being faster.

I'd say even 100Mbps would be good enough for most uses. It's nice to be faster, but I'm not certain it improves my life very much.

This is one of the things in life I consciously don’t “go big” to save money. Because it’s a fixed monthly payment, the savings rack up over the years by just getting the slowest speed possible that has unlimited usage.

Everything I’ve ever wanted to do is near enough to instant on 80Mbps. When I torrent something big I just grab a glass of water and do 3 minutes of stretching and it’s done.

If gigabit was the baseline, you wouldn't have to pay extra. You're not saving money.

If gigabit was the baseline, I wouldn't be able to get my $20/mo plan wouldn't be available, and I'd have to pay more for service I don't use.

Gigabit is $20/mo in other places. What's your point exactly?

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