I gave up on waiting. I live in Silicon Valley, and was stuck with a 50Mbps DSL line from AT&T. Insane.
Internet connection is a personal top priority when choosing a residence. Why haven’t you moved?
AT&T won't upgrade millions of DSL users to fiber despite billions in subsidies
21–30 of 96 posts
Re: AT&T won't upgrade millions of DSL users to fiber despite billions in subsidies
#22I'm no fan of AT&T. Their contract terms are garbage, and I feel lucky to love somewhere with options. But the article hasn't done a great job of explaining this headline. It makes it sound like these subsidies were designed to encourage AT&T to build out more fiber. But when I follow the links, they're about things like general tax cuts that were followed by layoffs or misrepresenting figures to benefit from a COVID program. Maybe I missed the part where there's something about building more fiber.
Re: AT&T won't upgrade millions of DSL users to fiber despite billions in subsidies
#23My first thought is "ok well then give the cash to a company that is actually willing to do it". IMO Starlink would be the best option for these rural areas, simply based off the fact that they have a track record of providing broadband to very rural areas + they don't have to run any fiber to connect a new location. Starlink is very expensive though which is where I would expect a govt subsidy to step in and bring t…
This seems like a terrible idea. Satellite internet doesn't just cost money; having all those satellites in orbit have real non-monetary costs. They have a huge impact on astronomy, and they increase the probability of accidents which cause space debris.
Re: AT&T won't upgrade millions of DSL users to fiber despite billions in subsidies
#24The neighborhood I live in has basically three choices for Internet service: Xfinity cable, AT&T DSL, and Starlink. AT&T ran fiber directly past our neighborhood to reach new housing developments adjacent to us. As far as I can tell, they have no plans to to give us access to their GPON service, even though our development has a couple of hundred houses that are, essentially in three rows with wide and easy to access utility easements along the back of every row.
So, in other words, my neighbors and I have two viable choices for Internet service: Xfinity and Starlink.
Re: AT&T won't upgrade millions of DSL users to fiber despite billions in subsidies
#25This is no surprise and is not new. I live in a rural area and long, long ago gave up any hope of the AT&T DSL ever being better then 3mbps. I switched to LTE in 2015 and have not looked back. Since then I have been through a few different providers, but have been generally content with T-Mobile Home Internet for the last few years.
Starlink is tempting, but its $165/month versus the $50/month I pay to T-Mobile.
If anyone thinks AT&T or any service provider is going to run fiber to these communities, you are dreaming. It makes dramatically more profit for them to sell LTE/5G home internet options, even if it is not optimal for then end user.
Re: AT&T won't upgrade millions of DSL users to fiber despite billions in subsidies
#26That's why I'm upgrading myself off of AT&T and on to a modern provider.
Re: AT&T won't upgrade millions of DSL users to fiber despite billions in subsidies
#27My first thought is "ok well then give the cash to a company that is actually willing to do it". IMO Starlink would be the best option for these rural areas, simply based off the fact that they have a track record of providing broadband to very rural areas + they don't have to run any fiber to connect a new location. Starlink is very expensive though which is where I would expect a govt subsidy to step in and bring t…
Starlink has about 4 million customers right now, but considering that Starlink is struggling with congestion in the US, there will be a gap of millions of rural US households who would be best served by fiber. And regardless, fiber is the best long-term internet access medium, because whatever latency problems fiber has now can be improved by changing the devices sending data through the fibers without replacing the fibers themselves.
[1] https://www.techdirt.com/2024/10/01/capacity-crunch-causes-m...
Re: AT&T won't upgrade millions of DSL users to fiber despite billions in subsidies
#28My first thought is "ok well then give the cash to a company that is actually willing to do it". IMO Starlink would be the best option for these rural areas, simply based off the fact that they have a track record of providing broadband to very rural areas + they don't have to run any fiber to connect a new location. Starlink is very expensive though which is where I would expect a govt subsidy to step in and bring t…
Does Musk need more government charity? He's made a lot off begging, we can see whether he puts more restrictions on companies that are non-viable without government handouts but considering most of his haven't been, I can't imagine it.
He’s already come out saying he wants to remove EV subsidies after his company was able to get off the ground with them.
Age old pull-the-ladder-up!
Re: AT&T won't upgrade millions of DSL users to fiber despite billions in subsidies
#29My first thought is "ok well then give the cash to a company that is actually willing to do it". IMO Starlink would be the best option for these rural areas, simply based off the fact that they have a track record of providing broadband to very rural areas + they don't have to run any fiber to connect a new location. Starlink is very expensive though which is where I would expect a govt subsidy to step in and bring t…
>Starlink is very expensive though
Really? It's not always the cheapest option but seems pretty competitive with land-based broadband generally.
I agree with the broader point though. In my experience, Starlink seems plenty good enough for most consumers. Once you get above a certain level where you can do things like video calls and stream a couple of movies with reasonable reliability, most people are just fine.
I'm sure standards will increase over time but I'd probably be just fine if Starlink were my only option today. Even considered getting it as a backup but Xfinity has been reliable and good enough of late where I live that didn't seem worth it.
Re: AT&T won't upgrade millions of DSL users to fiber despite billions in subsidies
#30My first thought is "ok well then give the cash to a company that is actually willing to do it". IMO Starlink would be the best option for these rural areas, simply based off the fact that they have a track record of providing broadband to very rural areas + they don't have to run any fiber to connect a new location. Starlink is very expensive though which is where I would expect a govt subsidy to step in and bring t…
This seems like a terrible idea. Satellite internet doesn't just cost money; having all those satellites in orbit have real non-monetary costs. They have a huge impact on astronomy, and they increase the probability of accidents which cause space debris.
Except the satellites are already up and functioning, the service is available today. We will look crazy for burying thousands of miles of wires to residential in the future.