82
ISPs as publically owned Utilities (lemmy.world)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/linux@lemmy.ml
20 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Hey everyone, I'm new here but all this news about age verification and data privacy got me thinking about how the Internet itself works and how we connect.

I recall hearing somewhere that a town in the US created a city run internet provider and it significantly increased speeds and lowered overhead, as well as provided more of a voice to its users.

How would you go about implementing this from the technical side? I figure it would be an uphill battle politically, but I don't see a lot of good alternatives in this day and age. I love the idea of I2P and Yggdrasil, but as a matter of user accessibility, they take at least some technical experience and time to set up.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 1 point 6 months ago (2 children)

The question still stands, does your city have enough capital? Fibre is expensive to lay at a city scale, the equipment to connect is inexpensive to buy and maintain, you also need to ensure compliance with local telecoms regulation, you'll also have to deal with competition from existing established and experienced competition.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 4 points 6 months ago* (1 child)

    All true. It would be easiest to lay in heart of the city where it is most dense to attract more customers per square mile.

    Ideally, the utilities are made public and regulated by the public, but nationalizing or bringing it under state control is an even harder political sell.

    I'll have to spread the word one way or another, which will be tough when so much is happening these days.

    If it could be done, it would be in Seattle, given that the city owns its Utilities already.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago

    Yeah hard sell in the US. Nationalising infra is the way forward. Laying new cable and ducts in a city is wildly expensive and not always possible due to the need for new ROWs.

    We nationalised our telco infra here in Aus. Our conservatives tried to stop it and ended screwing up the deal and making it cost 30 to 60 billion more than it should have, but conservatives are mostly incompetent so kinda expected.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent