It’s official: AOL’s dial-up internet has taken its last bow. The company confirmed it would discontinue the service on Tuesday, September 30th, citing routine evaluations of its offerings.
Its not perfect to replace for all those rural households, but a 5G based internet ‘gateway’ is an affordable and viable option for people at least somewhere near a 5G tower.
Unlike that national fiber build out that never really happened to anywhere near the extent that was promised, its not that expensive to set up a 5G cell tower, and for users its eaaay cheaper than any satellite internet, including Starlink.
Okay but about the fiber shit, they covered 99.7% of my city and didn’t cover my street and I’m within walking distance of city hall. I really wish there was a way I could compel them to give me fiber. One of the few things I dislike about my location.
Weirdly, I’m seeing fiber in the most unlikely places. They’re running it in my hood, which is on the bleeding edge of a small redneck town, nowhere downstream from here to feed for more money.
What really blew my mind, they’re running fiber in the hood where my camp lies, 900 souls altogether, and that includes a fair-sized surrounding area. Can’t be 50 homes anywhere near. And again, nothing downstream of that hood, it’s just for us. And both places already had cable internet.
No idea how those two ISPs will ever earn their money back from so few customers, with maintenance stacked on top. Maybe running fiber is stupid cheap now? Haven’t worked for an ISP for 20 years, who knows.
I am genuienly surprised to hear this… I mean… cool… I guess?
That… there’s more fiber lines than I thought there… was?
But also yeah that doesn’t make any business sense to me either.
Unless they’re planning on building a data center there in the near future.
Then, that might make a lot of sense.
Oh well, I’m still pissed that we gave ISPs like half a trillion dollars or whatever to build out fiber around a decade ago, and because that law was written by lobbyists, well it was apparently legal for said ISPs to just throw most of that money at stock buybacks and C suite stock packages, and then there were never any consequences for that.
Either way, I’ll take not blazing fast speeds and no datacap over… literally any plan with a data cap, anyday.
Less than a billion I think, but several hundred million? Anyway, you’re right, they ate it all paying off investors in the form of stock buybacks. Rural folk got nada.
Yeah, very weird expansion. We don’t even have much in the way of utilities at camp. We can get water, but certainly no sewer. Hell, you can’t even build “permanent structures” on my land. And I assume the surrounding land is even worse for flooding and being protected wetlands.
Sounds like I can get a power pole for free! Still working on that.
The roads are private, anyone can travel them, no problem, but they’re on us to maintain. Couple of dudes use tractors to level them and someone dropped loads of gravel and red clay to fix the slippery bits. (Shit like this is why country people think they don’t need no goddamned gubermint. You’d have to live it to understand.)
This is a Cox Cable endeavour. Used to contract for them, finest ISP I ever heard of. Apparently the Cox family took it public, then bought it back, said fuck you to the stock market and ran it themselves again. Hard to describe to those not in the business, but their cable plant is head and shoulders above anything I’ve ever touched. I assume they’re rich as hell and I wish them well, well deserved for once.
Its not perfect to replace for all those rural households, but a 5G based internet ‘gateway’ is an affordable and viable option for people at least somewhere near a 5G tower.
Unlike that national fiber build out that never really happened to anywhere near the extent that was promised, its not that expensive to set up a 5G cell tower, and for users its eaaay cheaper than any satellite internet, including Starlink.
Okay but about the fiber shit, they covered 99.7% of my city and didn’t cover my street and I’m within walking distance of city hall. I really wish there was a way I could compel them to give me fiber. One of the few things I dislike about my location.
Weirdly, I’m seeing fiber in the most unlikely places. They’re running it in my hood, which is on the bleeding edge of a small redneck town, nowhere downstream from here to feed for more money.
What really blew my mind, they’re running fiber in the hood where my camp lies, 900 souls altogether, and that includes a fair-sized surrounding area. Can’t be 50 homes anywhere near. And again, nothing downstream of that hood, it’s just for us. And both places already had cable internet.
No idea how those two ISPs will ever earn their money back from so few customers, with maintenance stacked on top. Maybe running fiber is stupid cheap now? Haven’t worked for an ISP for 20 years, who knows.
Plastic fiber is probably a lot cheaper than copper wire, for one thing. Probably easier to multiplex too.
Had not thought of that! Been 20-years since I’ve been at an ISP, times change.
Wait, what?
I am genuienly surprised to hear this… I mean… cool… I guess?
That… there’s more fiber lines than I thought there… was?
But also yeah that doesn’t make any business sense to me either.
Unless they’re planning on building a data center there in the near future.
Then, that might make a lot of sense.
Oh well, I’m still pissed that we gave ISPs like half a trillion dollars or whatever to build out fiber around a decade ago, and because that law was written by lobbyists, well it was apparently legal for said ISPs to just throw most of that money at stock buybacks and C suite stock packages, and then there were never any consequences for that.
Either way, I’ll take not blazing fast speeds and no datacap over… literally any plan with a data cap, anyday.
Less than a billion I think, but several hundred million? Anyway, you’re right, they ate it all paying off investors in the form of stock buybacks. Rural folk got nada.
Yeah, very weird expansion. We don’t even have much in the way of utilities at camp. We can get water, but certainly no sewer. Hell, you can’t even build “permanent structures” on my land. And I assume the surrounding land is even worse for flooding and being protected wetlands.
Sounds like I can get a power pole for free! Still working on that.
The roads are private, anyone can travel them, no problem, but they’re on us to maintain. Couple of dudes use tractors to level them and someone dropped loads of gravel and red clay to fix the slippery bits. (Shit like this is why country people think they don’t need no goddamned gubermint. You’d have to live it to understand.)
This is a Cox Cable endeavour. Used to contract for them, finest ISP I ever heard of. Apparently the Cox family took it public, then bought it back, said fuck you to the stock market and ran it themselves again. Hard to describe to those not in the business, but their cable plant is head and shoulders above anything I’ve ever touched. I assume they’re rich as hell and I wish them well, well deserved for once.