Sanders unveils plan to boost broadband access, break up internet and cable titans

[Tamorlane]

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/06/bern...twitter%7Cmain

‘In his sprawling “High-Speed Internet for All” proposal, the Vermont senator and Democratic presidential candidate calls to treat internet like a public utility. His campaign argues that the internet should not be a “price gouging profit machine” for companies such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon.

Sanders’ plan would create $150 billion in grants and aid for local and state governments to build publicly owned broadband networks as part of the Green New Deal infrastructure initiative. The total would mark a massive increase over current funding for broadband development initiatives. The proposal would also break up what the campaign calls “internet service provider and cable monopolies,” stop service providers from offering content and end what it calls “anticompetitive mergers.”

[anonymous]

4k netflix is a basic human right

[Fishman15]

4k netflix is a basic human right

and 5g to every nook and cranny in the mountainside...

[Ephedra]

4k netflix is a basic human right

In b4 I'm paying a Netflix and Chill tax so Pedro and Marcela can get "free" fiber internet.

[JoshSP1985]

So his platform is everything for everyone? Sounds expensive

[FFailed]

Did not read but if this is in anyway a bad thing for Comcast I'm in. Fk that trash company

[TaeBoNinja]

Public uilties are a mess, why would anyone want the Internet ruined like that.

[rhadam]

Internet as a public utility? LMAO no

[cashinout]

guy who has never had a job has a plan for everything

more at 11

[BearyManilowe]

Weird that this is part of the "Green New Deal" considering the effort involved in installing this level of telecom infrastructure would be anything but Green.

Brb "Netflix tax" of 7.99 instead of paying 7.99 for Netflix.

People need to understand that publicizing something like this goes above and beyond breaking down Verizon, AT&T, and other carriers. This would effect a number of entities beyond simply your providers.

[wesleysh21]

I am okay with breaking up cable companies. I guess I look at internet a little different because I don't feel like I'm getting "gouged" at the speed vs price that I'm paying. But I don't like the caps they are starting to put in place. I'm okay with a tiered system where heavier users need to pay more, but I think they are a little ridiculous with how much more they try to get people to pay.

[scheal]

Sanders’ plan would create $150 billion in grants

Grants

Grants

Grants


I wonder where that money will come from

[jeffl1980]

In b4 I'm paying a Netflix and Chill tax so Pedro and Marcela can get "free" fiber internet.

And this is exactly what would happen.

[Tamorlane]

Public uilties are a mess, why would anyone want the Internet ruined like that.

There are logistical problems with running infrastructure for the telecom provider networks in that there can only be a couple. Otherwise you get something that looks like this: https://www.livemint.com/Industry/XX...-Internet.html

The companies get subsidized and create monopolies working in cahoots with the 'competition' to keep prices up. Competition is really a great option but as mentioned difficult to work in dense areas especially. More expensive to run infrastructure to rural areas.

When Google Fiber came into areas they had problems with infrastructure and breaking through the telecom monopoly barrier, but where they succeeded, there were reports of great price reductions in those areas.

[wesleysh21]

Grants

Grants

Grants


I wonder where that money will come from

An internet tax

[kcadrenalin]

Everybody gets everything!
Free of course.

Except a chicken in every pot. That's no longer being offered due to complaints from PETA.

[Bushmaster]

So his platform is everything for everyone? Sounds expensive

Its all good bro, rich people will pay for it! Bernie said so himself - they'll pay for all kinds of free goodies!

[Tamorlane]

...

The internet as we know it was developed by taxpayer-funded research, using taxpayer-funded grants in taxpayer-funded labs. Our tax dollars built the internet and access to it should be a public good for all, not another price gouging profit machine for Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon.

Internet, telecom, and cable monopolies exploit their dominant market power to gouge consumers and lobby government at all levels to keep out competition. And they don’t provide service to anyone who can’t afford it, or install it in areas where it won’t make them as much money as their shareholders demand.

Their greed must end. Verizon made more than $45 billion in profits over the last two years, and last year their CEO took home more than $22 million in compensation. Comcast made more than $34 billion over the last two years and paid their CEO more than $35 million in 2018. AT&T took $3 billion from Trump’s tax cut and cut 23,000 jobs while their CEO pocketed $29 million last year. With no incentive to innovate or invest, these conglomerates charge sky-high internet prices to reap profits from consumers, and they collect government subsidies to provide service to rural households while still leaving millions of Americans unconnected.

It’s time to take this critical 21st century utility out of the hands of monopolies and conglomerates and bring it to the people while creating good-paying, union jobs at the same time. This is not a radical idea. Cities across the country deliver municipality-owned, high-speed internet to their residents, from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Lafayette, Louisiana.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt promised to deliver electricity to every home in America in 1935, a time when 90 percent of rural households lacked it. Ten years later, his promise was largely fulfilled, transforming the standard of living for millions of Americans. Farmers could finally refrigerate milk. We already know how to provide affordable, high-speed internet, but conglomerates continue to monopolize the industry and provide the country with inadequate coverage and service. Bernie fought against this monopolization in 1996, when legislation passed into law that gave free reign to monopolize markets and gouge consumers. Enough is enough. When Bernie is president, every American household will have affordable, high-speed internet by the end of his first term. This investment will provide every community the internet they need for their homes, educational systems, small businesses, health clinics, and more.

[gixxer0.6g]

$150B to build something we already have constructed and designed by the govt who has never in their history done it cheaper or more efficient. Sounds legit

Things people never complain about....I'll take not having internet for $500 Alex

[Bushmaster]

Their greed must end. Verizon made more than $45 billion in profits over the last two years, and last year their CEO took home more than $22 million in compensation

Verizon CEO slams Bernie Sanders' 'contemptible' views

https://www.businessinsider.com/veri...ers-cwa-2016-4

Cliffs: Bernie is an idiot who doesn't know wtf he's talking about.

[Tamorlane]

Verizon CEO slams Bernie Sanders' 'contemptible' views

https://www.businessinsider.com/veri...ers-cwa-2016-4

Cliffs: Bernie is an idiot who doesn't know wtf he's talking about.

You simply appeal to authority, and the guy's defense in that article is: 'we've done a lot of good.' Yes you have, but it takes nothing away from the facts: prices are inflated from monopolization, they are motivated by profit and are accountable to their shareholders. They have no incentive to run fiber optic lines to rural america when the ROI is nill.

[Bushmaster]

You simply appeal to authority, and the guy's defense in that article is: 'we've done a lot of good.' Yes you have, but it takes nothing away from the facts: prices are inflated from monopolization, they are motivated by profit and are accountable to their shareholders. They have no incentive to run fiber optic lines to rural america when the ROI is nill.

Lol oh so NOW rural America is important. Could have sworn it wasn't too long ago that you all cheered when Hillary called it "Flyover Country."

Pretty sure rural America pisses you all the fuk off whenever the subject of Electoral College comes up too. Amiright?

[JoshSP1985]

You simply appeal to authority, and the guy's defense in that article is: 'we've done a lot of good.' Yes you have, but it takes nothing away from the facts: prices are inflated from monopolization, they are motivated by profit and are accountable to their shareholders. They have no incentive to run fiber optic lines to rural america when the ROI is nill.

Why do rural areas need fiber? Satellite internet exists for a reason.

[rhadam]

they are motivated by profit

Silly socialists thinking this is a bad thing. Always good for a laugh.

[BearyManilowe]

You simply appeal to authority, and the guy's defense in that article is: 'we've done a lot of good.' Yes you have, but it takes nothing away from the facts: prices are inflated from monopolization, they are motivated by profit and are accountable to their shareholders. They have no incentive to run fiber optic lines to rural america when the ROI is nill.

Weird that rural america matters to you when it comes to the internet but not when it comes to Electoral College votes.

Very interesting.

Edit: I also don't feel like we should need to tell you how inefficient it would be to run fiber in rural America.

[TaeBoNinja]

There are logistical problems with running infrastructure for the telecom provider networks in that there can only be a couple. Otherwise you get something that looks like this: https://www.livemint.com/Industry/XX...-Internet.html

The companies get subsidized and create monopolies working in cahoots with the 'competition' to keep prices up. Competition is really a great option but as mentioned difficult to work in dense areas especially. More expensive to run infrastructure to rural areas.

When Google Fiber came into areas they had problems with infrastructure and breaking through the telecom monopoly barrier, but where they succeeded, there were reports of great price reductions in those areas.

Google Fiber is backed by a company. Public utilites are garbage....ask PG&E customers about that. There is no competition, and quality of service falls off a cliff with them.

If I don't like At&T broadband...I can pick other choices. If I'm stuck with one utility...then I'm screwed.

[rhadam]

Google Fiber is backed by a company. Public utilites are garbage....ask PG&E customers about that. There is no competition, and quality of service falls off a cliff with them.

If I don't like At&T broadband...I can pick other choices. If I'm stuck with one utility...then I'm screwed.

Phuck PG&E. Even us Californians know that public utilities are the worst.

[Bushmaster]

Verizon CEO slams Bernie Sanders' 'contemptible' views

https://www.businessinsider.com/veri...ers-cwa-2016-4

Cliffs: Bernie is an idiot who doesn't know wtf he's talking about.

You simply appeal to authority,

Actually no, it was a lot more than that. Bernie shoveled shiit and Verizon's CEO busted his ass over it..

His first accusation – that Verizon doesn’t pay its fair share of taxes – is just plain wrong. As our financial statements clearly show, we’ve paid more than $15.6 billion in taxes over the last two years – that’s a 35% tax rate in 2015, for anyone who’s counting. We’ve laid out the facts repeatedly and did so again yesterday (see “Sen. Sanders needs to get his facts straight” at Verizon.com/about/news). The senator has started to fudge his language – talking of taxes not paid in some unspecified “given year” – but that doesn’t make his contention any less false.

[Mark1T]

Good luck, Bernie, you fraud.

[KE19]

"Price gouging profit machine”

Does this guy have even have the slightest idea how free markets work?