All politics is local.
That generalizing proverb has been variously attributed to Associated Press Washington bureau chief Byron Price, said to have first used this term in 1932, and to Chicago writer Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936). The phrase suggests that voters and corporations are concerned most about issues that affect their personal lives and home communities, and that they vote accordingly. It was often (and famously) used by former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Tip O’Neill (1912-1994).
We might be able to modify the proverb slightly, to suit the situation in 2018.
All broadband is local. Very local.
About a year ago, an article appeared on the USTelecom.org website, entitled, “Chairman Pai Bridging the Digital Divide.” USTelecom is an association of broadband Internet providers, the folks that spend $50 billion or so each year installing and upgrading Internet services for us Internet consumers. Their August 2017 article began with these words:
In his first remarks as FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai declared his highest priority: making sure every American who wants internet access can get it. Since that day, he has consistently taken steps toward that goal. A key component of the strategy to get there is fostering broadband infrastructure investment.
Chairman Pai had posted his own blog entry a month earlier, following a whirlwind trip across Rural America:
Last month, I logged a five-state, 18-stop, 1,672-mile road trip from Wisconsin to Wyoming to learn firsthand about the connectivity challenges in that part of the country…
…If you live in rural America, there’s a better than 1-in-4 chance that you lack access to fixed high-speed broadband at home, compared to a 1-in-50 probability in our cities.
…In Hampshire County, West Virginia, I heard how a resort in the town of Capon Springs that doesn’t have broadband has had trouble attracting guests who prize connectivity. On that same stop, I spoke with the owner of a chocolate store from nearby Kirby who told me that poor or nonexistent Internet access prevents him from serving his customers, maintaining the store’s Facebook page, and growing his business.
But [the] road trip has left me invigorated, not discouraged. That’s because I also saw firsthand the opportunities that are unlocked when next-generation networks connect rural communities.
No doubt many of our Daily Post readers find themselves frustrated by slow Internet service, especially if they’re trying to view video content. Where do these frustrated residents live? I was curious about that little detail. When I shared a map of the world in Part Two of this editorial series, we could see the average Internet speeds for various countries as calculated by Akamai Technologies, and the US was near the top of the list, with an average speed of about 14Mbps (14 Megabits per second.) But that was only a national average. We know that the average speed is much faster in some parts of the country.
Or much slower.
A US map posted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) shows the average speeds in Colorado counties, showing areas with many competing ISPs, and generally faster speeds. In downtown Denver, for example, two competing carriers offer 1Gbps connections (1,000Mbps). But many rural areas of the state can’t even offer 2Mbps speeds, unless a resident can afford a satellite connection.
These are ‘averages.’ Durango and Farmington have more carriers than does Archuleta County. Durango has several areas of downtown where more than one carrier offers 100Mbps download speeds.
According to the map, every single neighborhood and ranch in Archuleta County appears to be served by high-speed (25/3) broadband Internet, via the satellite service DishNet Holding LLC.
The FCC has apparently broken down the entire US into smaller neighborhoods — Census Blocks — and catalogued each Block in terms of which Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are available in that particular neighborhood. The FCC seems particularly interested in ‘fixed’ ISPs — local, non-satellite ISPs. I presume this is because satellite broadband is more expensive? And beyond the means of many working class families?
Maybe there are other reasons?
There are three satellite companies serving Downtown — the same three satellite companies that serve all of Archuleta County, as far as I can determine.
And there are three ‘fixed’ ISPs serving this same Census Block: CenturyLink, USA Holdings (USA Communications) and Visionary Communications (Skywerx.) According to this list, both CenturyLink and USA Communications can provide speeds faster than the broadband benchmark touted by the FCC, with both offering download speeds twice as fast as the FCC-recommended ’25Mbps.’ CenturyLink appears to have a second circuit that can provide a slower “10/0.768” ADSL service.
Comcast Corporation offers 1Gbps Internet (987Mbps) download and 35Mbps upload to this very rural part of Archuleta County. Or so the FCC tells us.
Which suggests that broadband, like water, flows uphill… towards money.