Thread by @bettersafetynet

I don't normally repost stuff from reddit or other sites, but this is *important*

arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…

A thread of things to know why US citizens should care deeply about this.

1/?

Many (most?) folks in the US know that the internet was developed by the US by DARPA.

What few do know is that year over year, the US has been slipping in terms of broadband... by every measurable metric.

I'll cover them one at time so you can understand how bad it is
2/?

The US does *not* have the fastest internet speed. We're ranked 11th in the world!

decisiondata.org/news/analysis-…

3/?

At present, we're *falling* a report from two years ago had us at 10th. Things are getting worse, not better.
broadbandnow.com/report/2018-fc…

4/?

Side rant: did you know that the US defines "broadband internet" differently than the rest of the world? In 2015 the speed was *increased* to 25 Mbps...

washingtonpost.com/news/the-switc…

which is well below what most other countries consider "broadband"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband…
5/?

It's *grim*. When you think about how much the internet means to us, it is especially dire that we're getting worse service... but folks, this is the part of the story where it's going to get darker... so so much darker.

Buckle up.
6/?

For years, people have talked about the issues with rural tech access. It's appalling.

The FCC has tools which show our sad state of affairs.

Here's an interactive county by county visualization which explains the situation.

fcc.gov/reports-resear…

7/?

To help rive home the point that internet access is critical, this map overlays access to health providers. In many parts of the country, tele-medicine is all that is practical.

Internet isn't just for netflix and online games.

8/?

With me so far?

The country that invented the internet is no longer in the top 10, there's large portions of the country with very little access...

but this is the disgusting bit...

9/?

WE ARE PAYING FOR TWICE FOR THIS HORRIFIC SERVICE AND AVAILABILITY!!

While your bill goes to your providers, you also pay a thing called the Universal Service Fee. It's a complex set of subsidies and fees that are given to promote access.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal…

10/?

idk where or how to end this thread. I just want to say that there's a TON to love about the USA. But the tcomms industry is **not** one of them.

It's anti-competitive, lots of folks have been hoodwinked, and frankly not enough folks will care.

11/?

You should write your congress members. You should be demanding better.

If you want civil debate on this, cool. Warning though, my undergrad was telecommunications and networking. I worked at a Tier 1 ISP (the ISP for your ISP) so I *know* this stuff. Don't shill.

12/12