
Rural Americans can't check email or use credit cards because of slow Internet - kimsk112
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/11/17/rural-americans-cant-check-email-or-use-credit-cards-because-theyre-still-stuck-with-slow-internet-officials-say.html
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kevin_b_er
Don't worry, under Pai's new standards, ISPs will add extra fees for the
ability of your internet connection to process credit cards. No extra
guarantee of reliability of course, just extra fees. And no your city can't
help because the same political party regular accepts bribes from said ISP to
prevent local votes from mattering.

Fox News spun this into an anti-tax spiel, of course.

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update
Interesting article.

> Some small-town residents say it’s nearly impossible to do simple tasks like
> check email and stream videos. Eric Pelka, a post office employee in Julian,
> Pa., told Fox News at times they had to turn seven to eight people away a
> day because of poor Internet connection.

I'd also wager that it stops some people from moving to the area. I recently
was looking to move to a rural area and a make or break factor was internet. I
passed on so many beautiful locations because there was no internet available.

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Clubber
Absolutely. I'd love to live in a less populated area. The requirements would
be:

Gas and grocery within 30 minutes (should be easy). Doctor within 30 minutes.
Usable internet (stream SD videos).

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maxerickson
There's 5000 emergency rooms and 3500 Walmarts in the US.

So the first two don't narrow things down a lot.

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asveikau
What I read from this: Lots of image and javascript-laden webpages are leaving
people out in ways their developers may not be aware of. Why should you need
broadband to pay your credit card bill? You shouldn't. Yet when I think of the
heavy web UI I see when I pay my cards, yes, it's not surprising.

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Feniks
Can't even imagine living in an area without 3 supermarkets in walking
distance and broadband cable/4G.

As someone once famously tweeted: "why would you live there". Although I guess
you can see the stars at night?

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mikestew
You live there because you don’t have to put up with the crowds that
necessitate having three grocery stores. I mean, $DEITY H. $DEITY on a pogo
stick, you need _three_ stores from which to buy your food or you can’t
imagine living here? You’re being sarcastic and it went right over my head,
right?

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nine_k
I totally don't mind crowds, but I do mind most everything needed daily be
available within a walking distance, and the ability to find that particular
item in one of four grocery stores closest to my apartment. This, and never
having to drive. (So I live in New York.) </offtopic>

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bfuller
The problem is line attenuation 90% of the time in middle america

