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Too Poor to Afford the Internet

nytimes.com

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Re: Too Poor to Afford the Internet

#131

Post by zzzcpan »

rahimnathwani wrote: post #130
rayiner wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vast majority of the cost of any kind of infrastructure is labor, which scales with local wages.[1] A New York subway ticket is about $2.75. That's about 11x more than the cost of a ticket on the Kiev Metro. And it's not like the New York subway makes a profit--fares cover only about half the system's operating costs.[2] In Baltimore, I paid about $50 for a 50mbps connection, or about 20x more than a subway ticke…

"The vast majority of the cost of any kind of infrastructure is labor, which scales with local wages." I'm not sure that's true. Let's say it costs VeriCast $500/year to maintain a single home's landline and broadband connections (including the stuff in the street), for which they charge the customer say $700 per year. Do they really have one employee per 200 connections (assuming $100k full-loaded cost per employee)…

If the strategy of the company is not to compete - there is very little incentive to pursue efficiency. So talking about labor costs or expensive equipment in the absence of competition is pointless, they don't care about it themselves.

Furthermore, labor costs are not about maintenance, but rather about investing in the infrastructure. And this doesn't translate directly into the price. They make way more money on that infrastructure in the long run.

Re: Too Poor to Afford the Internet

#132

Post by kingnothing »

wolfgke wrote: post #125
gumby wrote: post #22

Another huge aspect of poverty and internet access is the increasing number of households who don't have wifi but use only their phones for internet access. ("one-quarter of those earning below the median income and one-third of those living below poverty level accessed the Internet only through their mobile devices." https://theconversation.com/many-low-income-students-use-onl... and if you want more http://qz.com/5…

I'm a little bit surprised: Raspberry Pi 3, say, 40$ (current price on Adafruit). Let's say 70$ for RPi + power adapter + enclosure + mouse + keyboard + SD card. You surely have a TV. Use your mobile phone to set up a hotspot - problem solved. If this is still too expensive: There are lots of hobbyists having old RPi lying around. Or companies that have old mouses and keyboards lying around that aren't used anymore a…

Learning how to set all of that up is a massive barrier to entry for the technically average or below-average person. With a modern phone, all you have to do is turn it on and you're good to go.

Re: Too Poor to Afford the Internet

#133

Post by kwhitefoot »

Why should one need a library card to use a library internet connection? Last time I used a public computer in the UK they were free for everyone with a time limit. But in Raleigh, NC, only registered card holders can use them.

Re: Too Poor to Afford the Internet

#134

Post by bluedino »

jawns wrote: post #10

Can I just say how much I love the way public libraries have navigated themselves into the digital age? They are, as this piece points out, very popular places to access computers and the Internet, and many libraries offer a wealth of digital content. I can check out and instantly download e-books and audiobooks and movies from my library. It's certainly conceivable that they might have transitioned less well. There…

I have web access at my cities public library, but that's it. They have a fiber connection, wifi, and lots of working space but you can't even access github, Dropbox, or most vps's

Re: Too Poor to Afford the Internet

#135

Post by whamlastxmas »

wolfgke wrote: post #124
PeterisP wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not enough to set up new journals. Until you convince everyone who matters (in your area of research) to use only the new journals, you still need the subscriptions to all the old journals as well, until (if!) they are abandoned and lose all status.

Aaron Swartz alredy wrote about that in his Guerilla Open Access Manifesto ( https://archive.org/details/GuerillaOpenAccessManifesto ; https://archive.org/stream/GuerillaOpenAccessManifesto/Goamj... ): "There are those struggling to change this. The Open Access Movement has fought valiantly to ensure that scientists do not sign their copyrights away but instead ensure their work is published on the Internet, under te…

I am surprised piracy has not solved this problem.

Re: Too Poor to Afford the Internet

#137

Post by [deleted] »

rayiner wrote: post #28
drops wrote: post #13

Interesting. I live in a country with a minimum wage of $58 a month (Ukraine) and yet the internet is one of the few things that pretty much anyone can afford: high speed connections (50-100mbps) cost about $2-4; rarely more. Are american high prices the result of scummy pricing on the corporations' side or is it an actual infrastructural issue that prevents the ISPs from providing cheap connections to everyone?

The vast majority of the cost of any kind of infrastructure is labor, which scales with local wages.[1] A New York subway ticket is about $2.75. That's about 11x more than the cost of a ticket on the Kiev Metro. And it's not like the New York subway makes a profit--fares cover only about half the system's operating costs.[2] In Baltimore, I paid about $50 for a 50mbps connection, or about 20x more than a subway ticke…

[deleted]

Re: Too Poor to Afford the Internet

#138

Post by wolfgke »

kingnothing wrote: post #132
wolfgke wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a little bit surprised: Raspberry Pi 3, say, 40$ (current price on Adafruit). Let's say 70$ for RPi + power adapter + enclosure + mouse + keyboard + SD card. You surely have a TV. Use your mobile phone to set up a hotspot - problem solved. If this is still too expensive: There are lots of hobbyists having old RPi lying around. Or companies that have old mouses and keyboards lying around that aren't used anymore a…

Learning how to set all of that up is a massive barrier to entry for the technically average or below-average person. With a modern phone, all you have to do is turn it on and you're good to go.

There are lots of people that you can simply ask and are often willing to help (for example at hacker spaces or maker spaces).

Re: Too Poor to Afford the Internet

#139

Post by kazinator »

jawns wrote: post #10

Can I just say how much I love the way public libraries have navigated themselves into the digital age? They are, as this piece points out, very popular places to access computers and the Internet, and many libraries offer a wealth of digital content. I can check out and instantly download e-books and audiobooks and movies from my library. It's certainly conceivable that they might have transitioned less well. There…

> Can I just say how much I love the way public libraries have navigated themselves into the digital age?

Yes, but at the slight risk of sounding ridiculous. Libraries were computerized long before the "Internet age".

Re: Too Poor to Afford the Internet

#140

Post by ssanders82 »

kazinator wrote: post #139
jawns wrote: post #10

Can I just say how much I love the way public libraries have navigated themselves into the digital age? They are, as this piece points out, very popular places to access computers and the Internet, and many libraries offer a wealth of digital content. I can check out and instantly download e-books and audiobooks and movies from my library. It's certainly conceivable that they might have transitioned less well. There…

> Can I just say how much I love the way public libraries have navigated themselves into the digital age? Yes, but at the slight risk of sounding ridiculous. Libraries were computerized long before the "Internet age".

He said "digital age" not "Internet age" and then he mentions access to computers, the Internet, e-books, etc. Were you just looking for a comment to criticize?
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