Internet as Infrastructure

[Indy]

My overall point is the public is totally unaware of how much of "our" property is sold off/given away to private interests, who then charge us to use it.

I'm unclear how we benefit from that arrangement.

Which is not to say that firms should be paid for building oil wells or creating technologies, but if you think about it, it is kind of weird.

[John Galt]

free 4g is a better alternative if you want to talk these kinds of ideas. a cell tower is going to cost roughly 100 - 150K to make. the leasing is going to cost anywhere between 20 and 100K a year for each tower. but here's where the state has the upper hand: eminent domain. if the state can destroy someone's house to make way for other private entities as the supreme court upheld in Kelso, of course they can use it for their own cell towers

alternatively you end up doing something liek what google did in mountian view: install wifi hotspots on light posts. this keeps everybody connected and doesn't require oodles of power. there is a lot of infrastructure improvements that have to go along with that, but you can do it in a more piecemeal fashion. again, however, there is no connections directly to people's homes, but rather wireless. of course, that network crashed and burned as it was outdated within 5 years and no longer is running: too much traffic caused it to die. google is working on something else, but i think they just want to go totally groundless and put balloons in the air

[John Galt]

[exploited]

[Saz]

[Saz]

[John Galt]

[Indy]

[Saz]

[Philly]

If you're taking the subway in Philadelphia to a Phillies or Eagles game, you'll want to get on a southbound train to AT&T Station™. On your way, enjoy complimentary service for your AT&T powered device.

In NYC you just get service in some random stations plus in midtown on the west side for some reason.