Does anyone know about how long before broadband is installed

[tavernier]

now that the bill has passed? Asking for a friend who lives out in the country and relies on crappy internet connection to communicate with the rest of the world. I’ve searched Google without any luck but figured someone here might have some ideas. We have such clever people in our DU family.

[WHITT]

1. Hate To Break It To You

but experts in the field say there's nowhere near enough money in the 'BIF' bill appropriated for 'Universal Broadband', which will leave many in rural America behind.

Sad that many are running around claiming the bill will provide 'broadband for every American' or 'Universal Broadband, when it won't.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

2. Hate to break it to you

But people are going to benefit from this bill despite your efforts to downplay its impact.

[PoliticAverse]

3. So it won't be like the other times when these companies were given money to expand broadband...

and used the money for something else?

[AZSkiffyGeek]

7. If it's not perfect, don't do it

Got it

[WHITT]

13. Nope

Just don't claim it covers everyone, when it doesn't.

[Lovie777]

12. Red states buck on that because they don't want . . .

especially rural aresa to get too much universal information, from what I've heard from relatives that live there.

But alas we shall see.

[Demsrule86]

24. That is not true. Stop denigrating the bill.

[WHITT]

27. Of Course It's True

I'm afraid experts in the field have stated the monies appropriated will go nowhere near providing broadband to every American.

Telling the truth is NOT "denigrating the bill".

Clapping harder doesn't make Tinkerbell real.

[PoliticAverse]

4. What type of Internet connection (DSL, Cable, Cellular...) does your friend have? Do you know

the speeds they are getting?

[Meadowoak]

14. I live in central KY, the only option we have is satellite internet with speeds of a

Whopping 25mps and did I mention that it's very expensive.

[tavernier]

17. She said RV

She is teaching a class right now so I didn’t get other details

[Tetrachloride]

5. Speculative methods

I speculate a cooperative and apply for a grant

1. get a technical evaluation from a networking pro. a. Can you do wireless transmission? Microwave
b. Can you get cooperation from neighbors?
c. an internet “cafe” at someone’s home.

2. what distance are they from a high speed location and what type of location is it

[Klaralven]

6. Rural telcos will spend the next year preoccupied with ripping out their Huawei gear

In the long run, the best option for delivering broadband to rural subscribers will be 5G cellular fixed point radio.

[tavernier]

8. Could you repeat that in English?

Sorry. I’m an idiot about all those things. I think she is mainly interested in how long the process of getting a better system out to her farm would take. There is only one company in her area that does this and she is constantly losing connection.

[Klaralven]

9. Nothing will change soon, due to policy about Chinese suppliers

U.S. rural telecom networks need $1.8 billion to remove Huawei, ZTE equipment - FCC

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-china-telecom/u-s-rural-telecom-networks-need-1-8-billion-to-remove-huawei-zte-equipment-fcc-idUSKBN25W034

What is 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA)?

For the first time, the advent of 5G is allowing mobile technology to intersect with the demands of fixed line services and price points. Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) enables network operators to deliver ultra-high-speed broadband to suburban and rural areas, supporting home and business applications where fiber is prohibitively expensive to lay and maintain.

https://www.metaswitch.com/knowledge-center/reference/what-is-5g-fixed-wireless-access-fwa

[tavernier]

11. Thanks!

[Turbineguy]

18. Thanks!

[PoliticAverse]

10. Yeah 5G would be fastest and cheapest. n/t

[Demsrule86]

25. That is it...this technology is amazing.

[hunter]

28. There is 5G going up all over my community.

The future may be fiber and 5G.

Some of my neighbors rely on wireless connections exclusively for their internet needs. That's not so restrictive as it seems with some providers offering unlimited "DVD quality" video streaming.

My children, who depend upon the internet for their work, live in urban areas with fiber connections directly to their homes. One of my kids has redundant internet connections -- fiber, cable, and wireless.

Running a fiber along with the power lines and sticking 5G boxes on power poles isn't magic. It's less trouble than the rural electrification and telephone projects my great grandparents signed onto.

One of my great grandfathers got training as a telephone lineman during the Great Depression and was frequently called upon to repair the local phone lines after winter storms. He may not have been as enthusiastic about his life as a cattle rancher as he was about his radios. His daughter, my grandmother, was likewise not an enthusiastic rancher. She and my grandfather left ranching to work as welders in the California shipyards during World War II and never returned, creating a bitter stew of family resentments.

[waterwatcher123]

15. It is available now - Starlink (Elon Musk's company)

It is $99.00 a month with an initial $500.00 purchase of a pretty sophisticated satellite dish (nothing like what comes from Hughes Net or Viasat). The speed is somewhere between 50 - 300 mpbs with no data caps (varies). Elon Musk predicted that speeds will radically improve in the near future when data is transmitted from satellite-to-satellite by lasers instead of down-link stations.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/15/spacexs-starlink-early-users-review-service-internet-speed-price.html
https://www.starlink.com/

[tavernier]

16. And how will that differ in cost and functionality

compared to Biden’s Net? (You know they will call it that, especially if it isn’t very good… just like they named Obamacare in rough early days)

[waterwatcher123]

19. Not sure - but I suspect the government will decide they are too late to the game.

There was a post on DU recently talking about the huge number of applicants who have requested permits from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for low earth satellites. So, I suspect the government will conclude that these systems are the best option to provide broadband in the near term to virtually everyone. These systems may eventually replace most cable, cellular and wired networks.

If I had to speculate, my hunch is that Elon Musk sees his Starlink broadband network as a pathway to achieve functional self-driving cars (Tesla). We signed up as beta users on Starlink and it is far and away the best service available in our particular area. Even though we are in a city, the internet options are very poor. Now, we have VOIP telephones, and it is fine to use multiple devices streaming video at the same time.

[hunter]

29. No, thank you.

We can do better than that.

[Raven]

20. My town started about a year ago with Consolidated Communications here in NH

and the installation process began about a month ago. It will be done in the next 4 months and will provide high speed fiber optic to every residence and business in town. We are in rural southwestern NH.

[tavernier]

21. In town... well that's the problem isn't it?

My daughter teaches students at universities all over the Midwest via zoom. But she lives on a farm and has to daily drive into town to use her son’s internet. She has been known to teach at a Starbucks. Pitiful!

[Raven]

22. We had the same problem here. Everything came to a head when the school went remote and parents were

working from home.

[csziggy]

23. Has your friend put their name on a list for getting broadband where they are?

Back in the late 1990s/early 2000s, I was told by an engineer with the local telephone/internet provider that I would never get broadband at my rural location. He was certain it would not happen, ever. I still put my name on their waiting list for broadband - and apparently some of my neighbors did, too.

Less than two years later DSL was introduced on our rural road. Soon after, they ran fiber up the road to the junction box down the street and our bandwidth increased. It continues to increase - maybe not as much as more urban areas, but it is still a vast improvement over the dial up speeds we used to get.

Without people asking for the service, the providers will not make the investment to improve the infrastructure to support it. So your friend should put their name on a list and get their neighbors to do it, too. That will increase the chance that their internet connections will be improved.

[Demsrule86]

26. If they use exisiting electrical line for internet...you can have super fast and super cheap

internet...

https://broadbandnow.com/Powerline

electrical outlets.

Users simply plug a power line modem into any socket and there is no need for additional special wiring.

This emerging technology, shows potential because already installed power lines can be used to service customers without needing to build a completely new broadband infrastructure.

There have been a number of providers using BPL in the U.S., but none of them are still operating as of 2016. Most cases of powerline broadband were implemented by the electric companies that owned the local power lines in order to serve rural areas without any broadband infrastructure. Since the Broadband Initiative in 2009, these electric companies have largely opted to use the available government grants to fund new fiber optic infrastructure rather than rely on broadband over power line.

Benefits of Powerline Internet
Existing Infrastructure
Powerline internet offers an affordable way for power companies to provide broadband access to areas with low population densities by leveraging their existing infrastructure.

Low Cost
Because Powerline internet leverages the existing infrastructure, electric companies can offer competitive services without an immense capital investment.

This means lower costs to service new customers allowing the electric utility to pass the savings on to customers.

[Klaralven]

30. BPL over utility electrical distribution lines is pretty slow

BPL modems transmit in medium and high frequency (1.6 to 80 MHz electric carrier). The asymmetric speed in the modem is generally from 256 kbit/s to 2.7 Mbit/s. In the repeater situated in the meter room, the speed is up to 45 Mbit/s and can be connected to 256 PLC modems. In the medium voltage stations, the speed from the head ends to the Internet is up to 135 Mbit/s. To connect to the Internet, utilities can use optical fiber backbone or fixed wireless.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband_over_power_lines

The speeds of 100s of Mb/s quoted for BPL are for building wiring used as a LAN.