[Note: I'm glad to see my friend Rob finally put his years of frustration about the lack of broadband here in Valley in print. The political class in our country seems to want to ignore this major malfeasance that is right under their noses. DLH]
National Shame: Swaths of Non-Rural US without Broadband; Time for Re-Divestiture
DECEMBER 16TH, 2008
By ROBERT J BERGER
<http://blog.ibd.com/how-the-world-works/national-shame-swaths-of-non-rural-us-without-broadband-time-for-re-divestiture/>
View of Silicon ValleyI want Fiber to My Home!I live in Saratoga, CA, part of “High Tech” Silicon Valley. And my neighborhood STILL does NOT have ANY broadband services.
None! (I don’t count unreliable wireless with less than 1Mbps for more than $100/month a viable consumer broadband offering).
AT&T and Comcast are the “franchised” service providers (I.E. monopolies) for the area and they have no plans for covering this neighborhood.
Areas that do have “broadband” are at 3rd world speeds. Worldwide speed tests don’t even have the US in the top 10.
The US is no where to be seen. But Russia, BULGARIA, LATVIA, ROMAINIA!! Where’s the US? I know I don’t have ANY broadband in my house HERE IN SILICON VALLEY….
My startup’s office is in Mt. View California. Right in the heart of Silicon Valley. The only “high speed” service we could get is 1.5Mbps down / 512Kbps up ADSL. To get anything significantly faster we would have to pay thousands of dollars a month. WTF!?
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