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submitted 1 week ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Analysis of broadband affordability deemed "extraneous" by FCC chair.

The Federal Communications Commission is ditching Biden-era standards for measuring progress toward the goal of universal broadband deployment.

The changes will make it easier for the FCC to give the broadband industry a passing grade in an annual progress report. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's proposal would give the industry a thumbs-up even if it falls short of 100 percent deployment, eliminate a long-term goal of gigabit broadband speeds, and abandon a new effort to track the affordability of broadband.

Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act requires the FCC to determine whether broadband is being deployed "on a reasonable and timely basis" to all Americans. If the answer is no, the US law says the FCC must "take immediate action to accelerate deployment of such capability by removing barriers to infrastructure investment and by promoting competition in the telecommunications market."

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[-] newthrowaway20@lemmy.world 77 points 1 week ago

I fucking hate that every couple of years we just backpedal on everything. So god damn exhausting.

[-] ohellidk@sh.itjust.works 30 points 1 week ago

It takes so long to fix everything, too!

[-] timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Yeah well, clearly it wasn't fixed fast enough so we should vote back in the people that break everything. Or decide that we shouldn't vote at all like the lazy sacks of shit we are.

[-] muffedtrims@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

Propaganda is a hell of a drug

[-] MIDItheKID@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

This is the part that bothers me so much about everything that is being dismantled right now. It took forever to get it to where it is, and it still needed a lot of improvement. And it was just smashed seemingly overnight.

It's like a sandcastle. Takes forever to build a good one, and it takes some asshole one second to step on it and destroy the whole thing.

[-] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 7 points 1 week ago

takes some asshole one second to step on it and destroy the whole thing.

Absolutely. The last one to just go "lol nah" and demolish the working class this hard was Reagan, and we were still reaping the fallout from those asinine policies when 2016 hit!

[-] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 week ago

We had never actually fixed any of the shit that Reagan broke. They kept doing more of the same stuff he had started

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[-] StarryPhoenix97@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

And "fixing it" usually means giving away the infrastructure we built to the private sector so it can charge us to use what our tax money built.

[-] Etterra@discuss.online 4 points 1 week ago

We need a new 4th branch of government that's in charge of infrastructure and public welfare.

[-] ronigami@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

No, we really just need to stop selecting between two bad presidents over and over again. If you always pick the second-worst option, you’re going to have a bad time. Pick the best option. Ranked choice voting is the only way.

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[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 week ago

If only we could chart that and see which political party is in charge at which points, and then never vote for the one that puts us here ever again... Oh well

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[-] kingofras@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

It’s because USA has nukes my friend. The only way your enemies can attack you is through asymmetric warfare, mostly by corrupting your political system so that you attack yourself.

If you’ve wondered why everything looks like a coup since he got in, perhaps it is because it is one.

https://lemmy.world/post/31401705

https://youtu.be/AaKFx5rxdmA

https://smartelections.us/

https://electiontruthalliance.org/

And if you’re wondering why Democrats like Tim Walz are not even interested in investigating it themselves, well, the existence of certain files and whether or not they are disclosed could have something to do with that.

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[-] PattyMcB@lemmy.world 31 points 1 week ago

Why does everything have to be so fucking political?

Faster broadband is good. Who fucking cares what political party?

[-] SulaymanF@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago

But corporations don’t want to spend money on customers, so they’d rather keep customers on slow speeds and charge the same price.

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[-] unmagical@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 week ago

For rural communities to get higher speeds ISPs have to actually use the money the government gives them for increasing rural community internet speeds on increasing rural community internet speeds. If broadband is defined as "one house in the county has access to internet as fast as your grandparents had growing up" then they've already met their goal and they don't need to spend any money and collect pure profit from government subsidies.

Biden thought that was bullshit and established policy to direct them to do the right thing. The current administration, however, is more than happy taking their checks to the back.

[-] Sprocketfree@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 week ago

We should not be giving private entities cash without rigid metrics and timelines. In fact, we should claw back what we've given them.

[-] unmagical@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago

In general I'd agree. Unfortunately, private entities and lobbyists don't and they'll pay politicians for the privilege of getting free money at the expense of the rest of us.

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[-] Mobiuthuselah@mander.xyz 28 points 1 week ago

Didn't ISPs just get tens of billions of dollars to expand high-speed connections to rural areas? For the second time?

[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 13 points 1 week ago

No that was just free money we gave them.

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[-] Fedizen@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago

Such a predictable outcome by the shittiest people on the planet.

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[-] Skymt@feddit.nu 19 points 1 week ago

From a Swede with gigabit internet: didn't you Americans already give a lot of money to your ISPs to build fiber? Maybe time to demand a ROI?

[-] bitwolf@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago

Please don't remind me.
I wish these companies would all just go bankrupt and die already.

[-] TheCleric@lemmy.org 14 points 1 week ago

Kinda hard when they’ve gone full mafioso and split up the country into territories so that we only have like one choice and have to be a customer. Because capitalism runs on no competition and monopolies, right?

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[-] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago

Next up EPA switches to visual inspection of water sources for purity.

[-] Hideakikarate@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago

They'll just have AI do it. Can't afford real eyes.

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[-] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago

Get ready for your shitty internet to cost even more.

[-] altphoto@lemmy.today 11 points 1 week ago

Thank God we're also eliminating cheap solar panels from China. Who wants an energy source so unreliable. It literally didn't even shine for most of the entire time. Sure it's been lit for just a few million years but whatever are you gonna do when it eventually runs out of helium and hydrogen?

I'd prefer the new ford trash diesel hybrid....just start the engine on gasoline, switch to diesel, then just dump your trash for that week in the back and wait for the big ass black plume to reduce yo just a healthy soot. It can get 23miles per trashcan!..sorry, 2.3 downhill miles. Isn't it great? Mr.TrashyBurn!

[-] skozzii@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 week ago

10 years from now USA is gonna be a 3rd world country with all these cuts.

[-] TuffNutzes@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

Trump was always obsessed with "shit hole countries". Now he's turning the US into one of them.

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[-] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

It's already a 3rd world country, has been for some time now.

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[-] Psythik@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

As someone who has had download speeds above gigabit all throughout the 2020s so far (and for under $60/mo as well), it blows my mind that there are parts of the country that still don't even have 10% of that.

Like what I'm saying is that even cell phone towers can do multi-gig speeds these days FFS, so there's no excuse even for rural areas to not have at least a couple of reliable gigabit options available, no matter where you are in the country.

If they can figure out reliable 5G in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, surely they can install an antenna on grandpa's farm and beam a 2.5Gbps signal directly to his rooftop. I mean my 1400Mbps line comes in through a 5G gateway sitting in my kitchen window sill and it has been just as reliable as fiber for me, even with a giant pine tree in the way blocking line-of-sight to the tower. ISPs need to stop making up excuses, and actually start investing those outrageous monthly fees they collect into better infrastructure.

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[-] Tempus_Fugit@midwest.social 9 points 1 week ago

This screws over Trump supporters primarily, so go right ahead.

[-] theneverfox@pawb.social 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I want good things, and this is a bad thing that hurts stupid people more

That doesn't make it a good thing

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[-] pulsewidth@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Dumb take. When the Trump supporters can't get good internet speeds from their local broadband infrastructure thanks to crap like this, they turn to Starlink, prop up fascist Elmo, and to boot they have it reinforced to them once again that the 'government is useless, only the Free Market ©® can provide good quality services'.

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[-] HappySkullsplitter@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

Analysis of broadband affordability deemed "extraneous" by FCC chair.

The royal court is displeased with matters of the common peasantry

We will kill the effort with but a word

We will accept no further pleas for explanation

[-] CocaineShrimp@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago

Sounds like bullshit coming down the pipes to try and distract us from the news that the commander in chief is a kiddy diddler

[-] Landless2029@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

Say it with me people.

Seperate infrastructure and service!

If the companies responsible for laying cable and wires weren't tied to a single brand we'd instantly break the monopolies by town that we currently have. They would also focus on maintaining the infrastructure and growing the network instead of the profits going elsewhere.

[-] venusaur@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

Keep poor people in the dark or they won’t vote for you.

[-] JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

FCC: Doing our job deemed extraneous.

[-] Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Broadband quality:

Great

Good

Decent

Whatever

[-] pseudonaut@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago
[-] skisnow@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago

You don't want to stifle innovation by adding a bunch of regulations, do you?

/s

[-] audaxdreik@pawb.social 4 points 1 week ago
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[-] OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

This is the same administration who is going all-in on oil and coal for energy production. Nobody should be surprised.

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this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
257 points (100.0% liked)

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