The population density argument is often<br>cited, but I think if there was anything to<br>it most of us wouldn't have landlines, cable,<br>water, sewer, electricity, etc. Certainly one<br>wouldn't include fibers to the boonies in the<br>
beginning, but metropolitan areas in most <br>states are surely candidates. It's no more<br>expensive to run a fiber to the home than<br>a twisted pair if you do it during construction.<br><br>The average cost to run a twisted pair today<br>
is about $2,000. But it's a long term investment,<br>and the phone or cable companies could <br>amortise the cost over 20 years or more. A<br>fiber could be retrofitted for that much, on<br>average, and less in many cases.<br>
<br>France has over 50Mbps, and it does not have<br>the population density of SK or Japan. Even<br>so, one would sensibly start in Paris.<br><br> -- Bob<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 3:18 PM, john-thomas richards <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jtr@jrichards.org">jtr@jrichards.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div><div></div><div class="h5">On Wed, Sep 02, 2009 at 02:52:43PM -0400, Bob Kline wrote:<br>
> <a href="http://tech.yahoo.com/news/nm/20090902/wr_nm/us_telecom_broadband_definition_2" target="_blank">http://tech.yahoo.com/news/nm/20090902/wr_nm/us_telecom_broadband_definition_2</a><br>
><br>
> Comcast is of course leading the charge<br>
> for mediocre performance. If you don't<br>
> provide decent bandwidth, change the<br>
> definition.<br>
><br>
> Note the bandwidth figures for Japan, S. Korea,<br>
> and France. What Comcast and others in the US<br>
> propose is pathetic.<br>
<br>
</div></div>Japan's population density is 870 people per square mile. South Korea's<br>
is 1,260. France's population density is 280. The United States? A<br>
mere 80 people per square mile. It is far more cost-effective to lay<br>
high-bandwidth fiber to several hundred people per square mile than it<br>
is to only 80. The reports you cited were in response to the<br>
President's desire to increase broadband coverage in America. That<br>
primarily means rural areas since most cities have some form of<br>
broadband. It makes sense to not define broadband as 16.0Mb/1Mb.<br>
Laying the lines necessary for those speeds to a community of 300 people<br>
is not economically feasible. The return on investment would be<br>
horrible. That being said, defining broadband as 768k/200k is absurd.<br>
It is somewhere in between. The US will never have an average broadband<br>
speed even close to that of Japan, South Korea, or France. It doesn't<br>
make economic sense.<br>
<br>
I have friends who live in Colorado City, CO. Colorado City was once<br>
believed to be the next boom town out west so when you drive through it<br>
you see lots of "roads" that aren't really roads. Just down the<br>
mountain from my friends' home is a plateau that has dozens and dozens<br>
of street signs on "street corners" but with no evidence of actual<br>
streets (since they were never actually built, given that the "boom"<br>
never arrived). They, in this small town, have fiber *TO THE HOME*.<br>
They get their television (100+ channels), telephone and separate fax<br>
line, and internet connection via fiber, with no copper but what is in<br>
the home. A local mom & pop ISP laid all this fiber, hoping to make it<br>
big when the boom happened. If you buy a lot and build a home, you can<br>
have fiber hooked up right along with your electricity. All of those<br>
roads that don't really exist were not in the way when the fiber was<br>
laid. If the roads were already paved, there is no way a small ISP<br>
could afford to lay that much fiber. It's doubtful that a large ISP<br>
could.<br>
<font color="#888888">--<br>
john-thomas<br>
------<br>
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new<br>
discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..."<br>
Isaac Asimov<br>
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