Low cost High Speed internet for low income families

[bambi]

At one time I thought having internet connection at home was a luxury,but not true for my family now, because my work no longer provides pay-roll statements you have to get it on line and I work PRN so I would have to drive 15 miles to work to use the thier computer. My husband's work just started doing the same, so it really has become more of a necessity.

 

[Windyhillfarms]

To me, anything that is not required to maintain life is a "luxury". Seems now that society deems many many things that have recently (in my lifetime and before) become "commonplace" but does that make them a "necessity". It is not a necessity to have the internet. People lived without it for a very long time and still managed to live. Even a car is not a "necessity" or "right". It is something you make "affordable" to yourself. Part of the problem with today's world is that people feel they are "entitled" to the American dream, whatever that is defined to them. I obviously have internet, but I don't have TV, because I can't justify the expense of it. Is either a "necessity"? Absolutely not in my mind. If I, as a middle class member, can't afford internet or whatever, then flat out can't have it until I can afford it. I have a problem with just because of your class, you get something cheaper. If it can be provided that cheaply, then everybody, regardless of their economic status, should be able to purchase it for that price. Libraries are free and have computers and internet there to use if somebody needs to.

Just my two cents.

 

[beerman]

I agree with Windy 100%

 

[me&thegals]

While internet is not a basic human need, it is a necessity for me to run my business well and efficiently. Driving 15 miles to town every time I need to send out an e-newsletter to my CSA customers is not efficient. Using paper and ink is not efficient. E-mailing it from home is, though. I use it for e-mails constantly, newsletters, the computer for tracking all taxes and business stuff, and researching every single thing I've learned to do--grow food, raise bees, make soap, weave baskets, etc.

My computer is broken right now (I'm typing this at work) and I'm finding it mighty difficult to do any of the above without a reliable, constant computer source.

 

[Windyhillfarms]

And that is fine me&, but it is not a "necessity" as you can still manage to do your work from work. It is a "luxury" in that it is easier from home. That doesn't mean that low income families should have a "luxury" that is cheaper for them than it is for me. That is all that I am saying.

 

[me&thegals]

Actually, I have 2 jobs. My veggie business is from home. If I didn't have a second job, and weren't doing "home work" at "other work," I would really be up a creek. I think rural, poor populations are exactly the types of people who should have cheaper internet to allow them to do jobs that help improve their income situation from home/farm.

In fact, there was someone who went really self sufficient and wrote an article about it. I can't remember the details of who/when/where, but they listed great internet access as an actual need for them, as all their research was done online.

 

[Windyhillfarms]

so if Internet is a "necessity" how did people live for HUNDREDS of years prior to its invention? It's not a necessity, it's one of those things that have made life easier and because it's easier, it's now a "necessity". Trust me, you would not die if you didn't have internet. That's the question people need to ask themselves... would I cease to exist if I did not have _______________________? You'd be surprised how many "necessities" really aren't necessary for sustaining life.

 

[bambi]

It is a necessity when the company you work for does not supply you with a pay stub, and the only means is to use the internet to retrieve your statement. This is what my husband and I experience now.

 

[Marianne]

so if Internet is a "necessity" how did people live for HUNDREDS of years prior to its invention? It's not a necessity, it's one of those things that have made life easier and because it's easier, it's now a "necessity". Trust me, you would not die if you didn't have internet. That's the question people need to ask themselves... would I cease to exist if I did not have _______________________? You'd be surprised how many "necessities" really aren't necessary for sustaining life.

I can agree with you to a point. OTOH, I don't need a phone or a car to survive (think Amish), but it'd be a major inconvience not to have either in my world.

I was against getting a computer for a long time. Now I'm really glad we have them (yes, two - DH's job REQUIRES him to have a lap top that he carries into accounts), I have a PC doing internet sales for the same company. But mostly I use mine for information gathering, like having the latest and greatest library/university at my fingertips. Hey, I found you guys, more information gathering.

I have no problem with lower income people getting a break on the cost. My kids were on the free lunch program at school and free sports at the YMCA for several years. I don't want to open Pandora's box, but thank God it was available - we were doing good to eat and pay our water bill at the time.

Today's schools have computers, but they aren't available to students in the evening when they're doing homework. My grandson would have to drive 50 miles round trip to the closest library. I think they're an asset (and a curse sometimes).

 

[Leta]

Yeah, I'm with Marianne on this. Obviously, you don't need internet to live. But you don't need a house to live, either. I think it's tool, and it makes life (for everyone- we all benefit from lower prices, less traffic, and fewer imported fuels) more efficient, so it only makes sense to try to make it affordable. This is no different from rural electrification or rural telephony.

I should out myself here- I have, in the past, explained that I, on theoretical level, disagree with rural electrification and telephony. (And I think FDR was a brilliant president.) Part of this is that when they got farms on the grid, they made them pull out their windmills and generators, which is and was asinine. They did this because the electric companies wanted to be assured a profit. Twenty percent of farms were generating their own electricity via non-petroleum means when rural electrification happened and wiped it all out. And that twenty percent started up primarily during the teeth of the Great Depression! Imagine if those folks had been allowed to keep their windmills, how much progress we would not have lost.

And telephony- most of Africa and much of Asia just skipped landlines. They were too expensive and difficult, so people went without for years, and everyone there just has cell phones now. In the U.S., had we not had rural telephony, I doubt we would have gone without completely in that fashion. We would have gotten along with CBs and other sorts of two way radios. Just like rural Americans wouldn't have gone without electricity- we would have seen more windmills, solar would have reached grid parity earlier, we'd have seen super efficient appliances emerge and become less costly quickly, and we would have seen other technologies (like propane and/or Einstein refrigerators and wood sipping heaters) become prevalent due to economies of scale.

I wish that we could focus that American innovation prowess on other things rather than just laying miles upon miles of cord.

I know this is about low income internet access- you can't even get Comcast in any rural areas that I know of- but other folks have brought up how important internet access is rural areas. I think that it is extremely important, and I that it needs to be available and affordable and I have no problem with the government helping that along.

BUT I am troubled by the way they are going about this. The area where I have friends, where we hope to move next year, does not have DSL and certainly doesn't have cable. The phone company out there is TDS. The cell networks (Verizon and ATT, no Sprint up here) call coverage out there "spotty". TDS took over $8 million last year, from the federal stimulus, to install the equipment to get that area on DSL. Their projected date of completion was May 2010. Well, Thursday the FCC announced that they were overhauling the universal service fund- something that until now has been strictly for subsidizing phone service in rural areas where is unprofitable for the phone company to have services- to include internet services. You would think that TDS would be happy about that type of ruling, but NOPE. Now they are halting the installation of the DSL equipment because they are "concerned". I hope to hell they give every red cent they took back to the federal government, otherwise the taxpayers are just stuck paying more welfare to corporations.

The university here (where DH works, and I graduated from) is NMU. The president was here about a year ago (DH baked for him!!) giving a speech about our WiMax Network. It covers a huge area, is free to users, took five workers less than a week to install, and cost around $100,000. Why can't we just beef up our WiMax network, that's what I want to know.

On a selfish level, I want TDS to get back on the ball and get DSL to the house I hope to move into, because it's better, faster internet service (so I can run VOIP and Roku) and at $20 or $30/mo, it would be cheaper than paying for a landline and dish TV/DVD rentals. But I'd be happier overall with just expanding WiMax enough to cover everyone in our county with free internet access. I'd pay for it through a special tax, happily. It's slower, sure, but it would be better than DSL in the long run because the network will just keep getting better and better- just like cell phones, albeit using different frequencies. It would cost less up front and end up being more efficient in the long run.

I would love it if every family in the U.S.- hell, in the world- got blazing fast cable internet for $10 per month. But there's no way Comcast is going to run cable everywhere, and I'm tired of seeing such huge amounts of money funneled to massive companies so that they can get more customers. If we can do it on the cheap, we should, and just keep kaizening away, making it better and better every year.

/steps off soapbox/