

Want fiber Internet? That’ll be $383,500, ISP tells farm owner - edoloughlin
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/08/want-fiber-internet-thatll-be-383500-isp-tells-farm-owner/#p3

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hobarrera
Funny how the ISP charges the person for the whole setup, but then keeps that
setup to serve future clients.

The only scenario where it's acceptable to pay for that sort of installation
is if you own it and share profits made out of it.

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PaulHoule
15 years ago it was common to get a "f __k you " price quoted by a cable
company or other provider when they don't want to serve you.

Back then, few people called their bluff, but today the internet is more
valuable than it was before. Now, for instance, if you spend $50,000 to get
fiber optic to your house, your property value goes up by at least that much.
In many places that are a buyer's market people are finding they can't sell a
house at all if it only has DSL.

Similarly if you work from home doing computer stuff, faster and reliable
internet (i.e. not DSL) can greatly improve productivity and lower your
stress.

For more and more people you find it is a no-brainer to put $50,000 on their
home equity line, so what happens is they say that want it anyway, and then
"big internet" finds some other excuse why they can't provide service.

Lately there have been huge increases in the "f __k you " prices being quoted
because the last thing big ISPs want is for people to raise their expectation.

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bruceb
Most people don't work from home so it seems unlikely people can't sell their
home because they don't have fiber.

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PaulHoule
Yes, but people want to have internet and cable and often the difference
between having a good wireline connection and not having it is 500 feet.

If you bought the 46th house in a subdivision with 45 U-Verse ports, for
instance, you are SOL.

The difference is not "fiber vs cable" but "DSL vs everything else". However
if you are going to build new infrastructure today, fiber is the only thing
that makes sense in terms of cost v. capability.

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robodale
Well, network engineers have to plan the network, then get land use permits to
dig, a directional drilling company has to actually dig in the fiber, install
premise equipment, circuit engineers build the circuits, test the circuits,
setup any network monitoring and service level assurance.

I am pretty sure all those services don't just happen.

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FlyingAvatar
From the article, the ISP in question receives $175 million per year from the
Federal Government to run "rural" internet.

A different provider (whether they also get money from the government is
unclear) quoted essentially the same run at 1/9 the price.

