last mile, regulatory incentives, etc

[john.yocum at fluidhosting.com (John T. Yocum)]

On 3/22/2012 3:49 PM, Greg Shepherd wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 3:11 PM,<Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu>  wrote:
>> On Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:40:27 -0700, Owen DeLong said:
>>> Yes, I find it quite "amusing" that I am paying additional fees on all
>>> of my telecommunications services to subsidize high speed PON networks
>>> in rural bumf*ck while I can't get anything like it in San Jose, California.
>>
>> That's OK, you're all in the same boat - the subsidized users can't get it either. :)
>
> So where are these "subsidies" going? I live in rural BFE where most
> of my neighbors are still dialing in, and the local providers have no
> $$ incentive to build out here.
>
> Greg
>

I imagine a lot goes into the general maintenance of rural systems. I 
recall 12 - 15 years ago, on the local news when it was announced a 
small town got its first phone line. Cost to GTE at the time was said to 
be 40K to do it, as the town was 20+ miles from the nearest anything.

I've lived in an area where Verizon had to maintain 10 miles of overhead 
just for 1 SLC that serves 20 homes. Not that the service was any good 
but, I'm sure the cost was far higher than what the customers were paying.

--John