
AT&T refuses to offer low-income discounts for sub-3Mbps Internet - pavornyoh
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/09/att-refuses-to-offer-low-income-discounts-for-sub-3mbps-internet/
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sqeaky
While I don't like AT&T and think they are a slimy and unethical company, I do
not think forcing them to provide cheap internet access is likely to work.

We have plenty of examples where land sharks and slum lords use rent controls
as an excuse to avoid providing many things renters ought to take for granted.
This is similar in principle. The the lack of financial incentive AT&T and
rent-controlled landlords have they are encouraged to provide reliable or
effective service.

I am just spitballing, but perhaps a system of vouchers usable on internet
services, given to people on this SNAP program mentioned in the article could
be experimented with. If the government were to pay for part of the voucher
and the person wanting the service pays for the rest then ISPs would have
normal incentive to service these customers and someone other other than AT&T
could move into the market because it makes economic sense, or AT&T could step
up their game because they want the money.

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joncalhoun
Another issue with this approach is that AT&T is incentivized to NOT upgrade
the internet in these areas because they might lose revenue. I think the
people who came up with this program had great intentions, but it has
backfired pretty horribly in some areas.

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gravypod
Why should they have to? If anything the onious is on us, the consumers, to
create an alternative that can revolutionize the market of networking. I wish
situations like these, instead of driving people to say "Charge me less",
would drive people to make functional alternatives. Mesh networks can easily
achieve sub-3Mbps speeds for all users in a fair and relatively free
alternative.

We have all the technology, we have the legal protection/laws in place, all we
need is some people to do it.

Lidar for long-range links, high-power relay nodes in the 5GHz range or (for
amateur radio operators) using the deregulated 11.4+ GHz bands (with multiple
antennas at 150W PEP each), and hard lines where needed, you could easily
create a network for the people by the people. The software side is already
fully implemented by the many mesh networks around the world.

There is also a project called CJDNS [0] that has come up with a system for
deriving IP addresses.

All of the tools are here for all of us to use and make our world a better,
and more accessible, space for all. We just need to put it to real world use.

[0] - [https://github.com/cjdelisle/cjdns](https://github.com/cjdelisle/cjdns)

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sitkack
People should read the whole article, this is really ATT deciding to fsck over
the small minority of their userbase that shouldn't be fscked over.

They should make those service areas totally free. And the FCC shouldn't be
holding their feet to the fire not meeting their obligations.

The more you make, the more you get for free.

