Quoting an article in USA Today: Broadband rates in the USA are already among the highest in the world — $35 to $40 a month. And that's for relatively slow speeds of 1 to 2 megabits a second. In Japan, consumers pay about $15 a month for speeds of 30 megabits or better, notes Raul Katz, CEO of Adventis, a Boston-based consultancy.
Why do you think this is? Could it could be because of the politics with the telecommunication providers? Or maybe it's because of some of the local governments? Regardless, something has to be done about this, especially in the rural areas.
I'm not sure what the legalities are behind my idea, but consider it for a minute...
"Wifi" access points typically emit a signal over a rather large area. In open, rural areas, this won't be that effective, but think about it for the urban areas. I live on the edge of a subdivision that is approximately 1/2 mile2. I know that the family living in the house at the other corner on this same side has computers and the knowledge that goes along with them. If the other 2 corners are either just as equal, or willing to provide the means to set up repeaters and/or access points with network servers, this subdivision could create its own wifi-based intranet. I'm not talking about bringing the Internet into this, due to legal reasons, but it would be very easy and effective to set up some intranet sites, Jabber servers, IRC servers, and email servers. Through the use of this, our small community could provide the residents with useful information, "break out of the shell" and make some new social contacts, and possibly even strengthen the physical security by enhancing the communication of the neighborhood watch programs.
Now, consider a city broken up into 1/2 square mile sections, implementing this same sort of idea. It would essentially create a new form of the Internet.
Of course, there would be issues with the typical copyrighted material being shared, but if rules were in place and enforced, that wouldn't be all too big of an issue.
One of the primary concerns anyone will have is Internet connectivity. As I previously stated, the Internet is not a part of this. I am not trying to promote individuals illegally sharing their broadband connections, although it does give room for cities to provide a single high-speed connection, funded by local taxes.
I know, I am kinda sketchy about this, and I apologize for that. Just think about it though... No more telephone companies to hold the community hostage by high rates.
Source: USAToday.com - Bells dig in to dominate high-speed Internet realm
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ahha!
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No internet for legal reasons? What reasons? Your broadband circuit contract prohibits you from sharing? Then change providers. Go to Speakeasy - they support it. I am setting up a neighborhood WISP that will support about 25 to 30 customers on the block or two surrounding me. A couple strategically placed outdoor APs, with outdoor client radios on the houses, and they will be on T1. Have a clear TOS when they sign up, and you should be ok.
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Make that: "A couple strategically placed outdoor APs, with outdoor client radios on the houses, and they will be on my T1." I have a D-Link DSA-3100 that separates the public wifi network from my private network in the house, and I can cap their bandwidth at any of a variety of different rates depending on what they subscribe to (pay me for).
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A T1? Wont that only give you just over a 1.544Mbps/sec?? If you get 30 people that will run just like dialup? Im not trying to prove you wrong, just trying to get a clear picture.
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and that looks kinda like a [blockquote] :D
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Me: That's the problem: The cost of broadband in this area, as well as many others in the US, is outrageous enough that people could sacrifice it and create their own metropolitan Intranet.
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My speakeasy T1 is 1.5 up and down. Many residential DSLs are heavily restricted on the up even if they pretend it's not. Yes, I could take 25 to 30 customers but it's unlikely that they would all be online at the very same time. Plus web traffic is bursty, if they were doing file sharing or other continuous rate ul's/dl's, then it might vary. Keep in mind I also have a gateway with bandwidth shaping and I also sell only rate limited packages: anywhere from 128k/128k to 512k/512k for very reasonable rates. There are absolutely no other broadband options out here so what are residents in this neighborhood to do? Many rural WISPs subscribe as many as 100 customers per T1.