On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 02:25:35PM -0700, Russell Senior wrote: > > http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/18/1739236 > > "[...] part of the explanation for the low cost is that the city owns > a municipal fiber network reaching every block." > > How about them apples?
Perhaps you should look at the numbers for a comparable non-capital city such as Upsalla, or further out in the countryside, where the living arrangments approximate our own. My fourth cousin Dan Lövström lives in Gimo, Österby Kommun, about 50km east of Upsalla. His (very high) tax Kröner go to fund that municipal fiber network in Stockholm, which is a VERY dense city, everybody lives in 5 story apartment buildings. In Gimo, which is about the size and density of Forest Grove, dialup costs about twice what broadband costs here. Dan can't afford it (because of those high taxes he pays), so he uses the internet connection at work, even though he has a PC at home. That's not to say that he resents it. The Swedes invest a lot in Stockholm, and hope their children can get jobs there. They have a king, and still dote on their imperial capital, and gladly make sacrifices so Stockholm can be a national showpiece. Besides, Dan is more interested in soccer on the TV, and if investments are to be made, he might prefer more power to the TV transmitters in Upsalla so his TV picture was less snowy. If you really want cheap municipal broadband, the Swedes will let Americans like you live in Stockholm. Well, they will if your business creates jobs and you are willing to pay their taxes. It is actually a pretty nice place, if you don't mind eating your apples (when they are briefly in season) in a small flat up four flights of stairs. Broadband penetration is always much better in densely packed urban areas than areas with two story detached homes with big lawns and wide roads. If the bureaucrats allocating the taxes live there, they end up with the best stuff. There is also good and inexpensive (privately owned) broadband in Tokyo. Which is stacked three times as high as Stockholm. If we all moved to high rises, with one fiber to the whole building and cat5 inside to distribute it, we would have cheap broadband, too. Keith -- Keith Lofstrom [email protected] Voice (503)-520-1993 KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon" Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
