It is not unprecedented. It exists in Japan, Korea, and other places I'm not
going to look up.
I'm not going to cite numbers on how small physically Japan and Korea
are. Compared to the US.
Finland is also building a national network. It has lots of empty spaces
and more weather challenges for installers than in the US--including
this week's eastern US blizzards.
It could cost about the same or less per household in the US as in
Finland if there are incentives to create a viable network. Google
competition could help a lot with that. Maybe there could be an
affordable gigabit network in the US, but not likely for a long time.
The telecoms have been collecting fees for new networks.
Perhaps the new networks should be owned by the public, as it is where
it works, instead of waiting and waiting and waiting for private
companies to expand the networks, often with assistance through public
grants and tax breaks. Once the networks are created with public money,
they could be maintained by private companies for the benefit of the
public--as utilities.
Private networks are welcomed to compete, however need to be prohibited
from suing municipalities that plan to build their own networks for
restraint of trade where the private companies refused to serve, as
happened in Lafayette, Louisiana, in Ohio, Minnesota, North Carolina,
and across the country; ex., http://is.gd/8bxiY.
*************************************************************************
** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy **
** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ **
*************************************************************************
