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Sometimes I wonder about these things. For example: in this article it is said they believe satellite service is essentially on its way out:

"satellite broadcasting — and Dish — were effectively relegated to niche status."

How much broadband demand can the internet infrastructure accommodate? I have neighbors within the city limits that have 1g broadband service and they tell me that they still have buffering issues during periods of high demand.

ekilgus said:

"satellite broadcasting — and Dish — were effectively relegated to niche status."
.

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Will be relegated to niche status. I've been saying this for years. It will become a product that caters to rural. Then the cost will begin to soar higher and higher, just like newspapers, until it dies a slow and painful death.

comfortably_numb said:

Will be relegated to niche status. I've been saying this for years. It will become a product that caters to rural. Then the cost will begin to soar higher and higher, just like newspapers, until it dies a slow and painful death.

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Never go away . The satellites costs and delivery uplink costs are very small in the scheme of things. Those relatively small fixed costs are expensed over a 10-15 year period

Program costs are the supermajority of costs.

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nelson61 said:

Never go away . The satellites costs and delivery uplink costs are very small in the scheme of things. Those relatively small fixed costs are expensed over a 10-15 year period

Program costs are the supermajority of costs.

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Doesn't matter how expensive or inexpensive the infrastructure is, nor does it matter how efficient or inefficient that delivery system is, if there aren't any customers. Statistics show more and more people moving to IP delivery where broadband is available. Underserved rural areas are and will continue to be satellite's highest area of consumption for the forseeable future

comfortably_numb said:

Underserved rural areas are and will continue to be satellite's highest area of consumption for the forseeable future

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What goes around comes around. It began with ala-carte BUD's and while the dish size shrank there are indications we just might be headed back to at least some form of ala-carte again and once again a suburban/country market. As for 5G it seems to me that there is a conflict between market and technology. 5G's market is projected to be cities/urban areas but the one major drawback of the technology is it's inability to penetrate walls due to the small size of the wave. So on the surface it would seem it's market is exactly where it won't work best.

Radioguy41 said:

What goes around comes around. It began with ala-carte BUD's and while the dish size shrank there are indications we just might be headed back to at least some form of ala-carte again and once again a suburban/country market. As for 5G it seems to me that there is a conflict between market and technology. 5G's market is projected to be cities/urban areas but the one major drawback of the technology is it's inability to penetrate walls due to the small size of the wave. So on the surface it would seem it's market is exactly where it won't work best.

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I think the best case scenario for broadband in rural areas going forward might be LEO satellites and small cells. Both are big investments, though, and no promise of big returns. My bordering state of Missouri is looking at rural broadband incentives to encourage ISP's to bring faster speeds to the underserved areas, but based on the botched exploits of such initiatives in New York State, I'm dubious of them.

This morning, I had a lengthy conversation with 2 field techs from Consolidated Communications. I asked them if (and when) broadband speeds over 20 mbps might be coming to my town. They said they have been laying fiber and working on it, but that the company is extremely cautious and conservative about rolling out faster speeds in small towns. I think this must just be a common denominator with regards to rural broadband. Residents tend to be less affluent and farther apart, and laying down large swaths of fiber isn't cost effective.

It's "the cost we pay to live in paradise!"

comfortably_numb said:

I think this must just be a common denominator with regards to rural broadband. Residents tend to be less affluent and farther apart, and laying down large swaths of fiber isn't cost effective.

It's "the cost we pay to live in paradise!"

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I don't think large ILECs will ever do FTTH in rural areas. They don't want to spend the money and wait on a return, because they are for profit businesses.

You will see electric cooperatives and rural telephone cooperatives be the ones that will provide this service to their members in rural locations.

You mentioned being close to Missouri. There are several co-ops there that are doing this, many have partnered with CoMo Electric Cooperative and their CoMo Connect service.

Here in Alabama there are two electric co-ops that have fiber to the premises projects ongoing, and two that are doing a study to begin service.

I am fortunate enough to live in one of these territories. Our cooperative, Tombigbee Electric has started a fiber to the premises project that will cover the entirety of two counties, and portions of two more. They have about 3,000 customers now, and when this phase (2) of the five phase project is finished they will probably have about 2,000-2,500 more.

There is a 24 count fiber line running on the poles in front of my house right now. All that they need to finish to get me connected here is the completion of some couplers and adding some fiber drops along the way, and the completion of installing an optical line terminal in a communications hut to serve this area. They have everything ready for the hut, just waiting to get a crane truck out to move it into place.

The complete project will cost about $35 million, so far they have spent about $18 million in borrowed funds and have received grants of about $5 million.

This is a very rural county, with about 30,000 residents over 743 sq miles. The largest towns have populations of about 6,700 and 4,500.

I live in an unincorporated area of the county, the closest 'town' is about three miles away with a population of about 900.

CenturyLink is the ILEC here the cable company that serves the county is a mom and pop, no way either of them would have ever taken on such a project.

bobvick said:

I don't think large ILECs will ever do FTTH in rural areas. They don't want to spend the money and wait on a return, because they are for profit businesses.

The complete project will cost about $35 million, so far they have spent about $18 million in borrowed funds and have received grants of about $5 million.

This is a very rural county, with about 30,000 residents over 743 sq miles. The largest towns have populations of about 6,700 and 4,500.

I live in an unincorporated area of the county, the closest 'town' is about three miles away with a population of about 900.

CenturyLink is the ILEC here the cable company that serves the county is a mom and pop, no way either of them would have ever taken on such a project.

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$1200/person

A great price.
The county should take our a 20 year loan and do it all. The taxpayers would be happy to pay the minimal expense over that time.

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Considering technology advancing, maybe that better be a ten year loan.


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Pick the "right" small town. Run fiber from the town out to some farmland. Let developers know. Farms get sold, townhouses pop up, and sell quickly due to broadband.


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navychop said:

Pick the "right" small town. Run fiber from the town out to some farmland. Let developers know. Farms get sold, townhouses pop up, and sell quickly due to broadband.


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When my parents sold the farm last month, they were seriously concerned that the lack of legit broadband might deter buyers. Lucky for them, that was not the case. It sold in 4 days.

nelson61 said:

$1200/person

A great price.
The county should take our a 20 year loan and do it all. The taxpayers would be happy to pay the minimal expense over that time.

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Actually, they're doing all of Marion and Lamar County, Alabama, plus part of two other counties. It will be a combined population of around 55,000-60,000 residents. They have probably nearly half of Marion County wired. Probably 2/3 of that is lit up. I expect by the end of this year most all of that remaining 1/3 will be lit up. Just have to wait a few more weeks to get that other ONT in service. They have the equipment, the weather over the past couple of weeks hasn't cooperated for a lot of outside work.