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Man who built ISP instead of paying Comcast $50K expands to hundreds of homes

(arstechnica.com)
1135 points carride | 26 comments | 10 Aug 22 13:23 UTC | HN request time: 1.375s | source | bottom
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qwe----3 ◴[10 Aug 22 13:35 UTC] No.32411651[source]▶
> over $30,000 for each of those homes to get served

This doesn't seem very efficient to me.

replies(13): >>32411670 #>>32411682 #>>32411693 #>>32411775 #>>32411831 #>>32411955 #>>32412075 #>>32412123 #>>32412258 #>>32413016 #>>32413760 #>>32414638 #>>32420670 #
fourthark ◴[10 Aug 22 13:46 UTC] No.32411831[source]▶
At $55/mo, he'll start making a profit in 45 years.
replies(1): >>32411957 #
TrueGeek ◴[10 Aug 22 13:53 UTC] No.32411957[source]▶
From the article: he had $2.6MM in help from the "American Rescue Plan's Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds".

He's being paid by the government to bring Internet access to homes in the state that aren't currently wired for it.

replies(2): >>32412037 #>>32412153 #
1. Bloating ◴[10 Aug 22 14:05 UTC] No.32412153[source]▶
Gotta pay your fair share, so it can be granted out for someone elses gain
replies(4): >>32412273 #>>32412388 #>>32412564 #>>32415129 #
2. beeboop ◴[10 Aug 22 14:11 UTC] No.32412273[source]▶
Are you also concerned about your tax dollars paying for roads in the next neighborhood over?
replies(1): >>32412574 #
3. xavxav ◴[10 Aug 22 14:18 UTC] No.32412388[source]▶
Today you help finance someone’s fiber, tomorrow they help finance your hospital/fire dept/etc, that’s the whole idea of public works.
replies(1): >>32412627 #
4. mmastrac ◴[10 Aug 22 14:28 UTC] No.32412564[source]▶
This is literally how societies function - you contribute a small amount to the general pool, you use small amounts from the general pool. In some cases bigger chunks go for bigger works like ISPs or bridges. I certainly hope you don't want a world where every road, bridge and traffic light is independently owned.
replies(2): >>32412728 #>>32416787 #
5. Bloating ◴[10 Aug 22 14:28 UTC] No.32412574[source]▶
The neighborhood developer paid for that. The roads connecting, donated many many years ago by the landowners at that time
replies(2): >>32413057 #>>32415150 #
6. Bloating ◴[10 Aug 22 14:31 UTC] No.32412627[source]▶
Sounds more like how crony politics for personal gain works. Alternatively, you could finance the hospital, fire depart, or whatever without an middle man siphoning off "their fair share"
replies(4): >>32412775 #>>32412892 #>>32415020 #>>32415131 #
7. Bloating ◴[10 Aug 22 14:38 UTC] No.32412728[source]▶
Well, there is a lot of legal graft in society
replies(2): >>32413234 #>>32415111 #
8. reaperducer ◴[10 Aug 22 14:40 UTC] No.32412775{3}[source]▶
Alternatively, you could finance the hospital, fire depart, or whatever without an middle man siphoning off "their fair share"

This has already been tried. People used to subscribe to fire service, or ambulance service. It doesn't work, and is also bad for society.

If you want people to only use the things they directly pay for, and not pay for shared things through taxes, then only drive on your own driveway. Don't drive on any roads outside of your cul-de-sac. Don't get your Amazon order delivered on state and federally-funded highways. Don't fly out of any big airport in America. Don't fly on any commercial airline, since they have all received taxpayer bailouts in the past. Don't use a bank. Don't use money. Hire a security guard to protect your property, and another one to follow you around every day. Get your water from a well on your own property.

For an 88-day-old account to be this stunningly obtuse, I'm going with "troll," rather than "genuinely completely oblivious to how the world works."

replies(2): >>32416739 #>>32418565 #
9. pentae ◴[10 Aug 22 14:47 UTC] No.32412892{3}[source]▶
So if you want to see this theory in action go to developing countries with an elite ruling class where they don't disperse funds to social works and see how nice it is, behold their lame GDP, etc.

The country I live in SE Asia is a good example. It's quite libertarian out here and yeah being able to pay for private hospitals is nice, but generally speaking your quality of life is lower, quality of goods is lower, average person is less educated, traffic is a crippling problem due to poor planning, it goes on and on. And despite labor being super cheap, roads are a mess, sidewalks are few and far between and if you do get one it's crowded with junk.. Only 10% of the country pays taxes, the inequality with the rich is massive, and if you're not in the top 1% you're basically a poor.

I recommend everyone in a rich english speaking country spending at least a year or two living in a developing country to get some perspective

10. bell-cot ◴[10 Aug 22 14:56 UTC] No.32413057{3}[source]▶
Ah! - so the next neighborhood over has all-private roads, and the homeowners association there (not the government) pays for all snow plowing, crack & pothole patching, repaving, storm sewer work, etc. that might be needed?
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11. westpfelia ◴[10 Aug 22 15:06 UTC] No.32413234{3}[source]▶
Dont drive on roads I guess? Would hate to be apart of graft.
replies(1): >>32414109 #
12. gowld ◴[10 Aug 22 15:54 UTC] No.32414109{4}[source]▶
That's a good idea. Personal cars are a graft paid by the rest of society.
13. hcurtiss ◴[10 Aug 22 16:42 UTC] No.32414885{4}[source]▶
I get the point you're making, but to the facts, that is quite literally how many subdivisions work, and least in the western US.
replies(1): >>32415294 #
14. thelamest ◴[10 Aug 22 16:51 UTC] No.32415020{3}[source]▶
Coordination games and public goods games (which arguably model insurance) work best when people don’t adversely self-select, but coordinate around the social optimum (for insurance, when the risk pool is as large as possible). Whatever can orchestrate such coordination adds value. If people do it on their own, great, but some problems have characteristics like time horizons such that the coordination doesn’t happen without an authority. Yes, this brings in other public choice problems, but the trade-off is not necessarily bad.
15. amazingman ◴[10 Aug 22 16:56 UTC] No.32415111{3}[source]▶
What exactly are you advocating as an alternative? Leaving the unserved homes unserved?
replies(1): >>32419902 #
16. duncan-donuts ◴[10 Aug 22 16:57 UTC] No.32415129[source]▶
This is also why USPS is crucial for rural areas. The Government should be subsidizing this work because if they don't people in rural areas are left behind.
17. amazingman ◴[10 Aug 22 16:57 UTC] No.32415131{3}[source]▶
In this case the "middle man" is literally doing the work. Money doesn't build things. It goes to entities so that they can build things. I suspect you know this, but it _seems_ like you don't.
18. amazingman ◴[10 Aug 22 16:58 UTC] No.32415150{3}[source]▶
Good thing roads are permanently in working condition!
19. bell-cot ◴[10 Aug 22 17:06 UTC] No.32415294{5}[source]▶
In my corner of Michigan, there seems to be a very clear dichotomy on this:

- Private developer builds a sprawling subdivision with plenty of nice wide roads and lots. (So a very large area of pavement per tax-paying property.) And turns the whole thing over to the city/village/township, to be their public road budget black hole forever more.

- Private developer builds a very compact little development, with houses (or condo's) packed in like sardines along a rather narrow and minimalist Private Road.

20. sophacles ◴[10 Aug 22 17:21 UTC] No.32415499{4}[source]▶
Ah yes, the HOA. A group of elected people that can compel you to do things with your property, require you to pay a share every year or they take your home, and have the ability to fine you if you don't comply with the majority opinion. Very much not a government in any way!
21. thfuran ◴[10 Aug 22 18:50 UTC] No.32416739{4}[source]▶
What does account age have to do with any of this?
22. DavidAdams ◴[10 Aug 22 18:53 UTC] No.32416787[source]▶
Yeah, wait until you find out that some of your tax dollars go to pay for bridges you never use or to bomb people who never personally insulted you.
23. Ancapistani ◴[10 Aug 22 21:14 UTC] No.32418565{4}[source]▶
> People used to subscribe to fire service, or ambulance service. It doesn't work, and is also bad for society.

That's interesting - FEMA says that 70% of the fire departments in the US are all-volunteer, and >90% have a volunteer component.

https://apps.usfa.fema.gov/registry/summary#g

I've lived in areas with volunteer fire departments that paid for their operations primarily with "fire dues" for most of my life. As far as I know, most volunteer departments operate like that.

I had no idea they didn't work. I wonder if anyone has told them?

replies(1): >>32428014 #
24. 6figurelenins ◴[10 Aug 22 23:49 UTC] No.32419902{4}[source]▶
"If you object to the government making shoes, he'll accuse you of making everyone go barefoot."

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dragonsteel/surprise-fo...

25. reaperducer ◴[11 Aug 22 16:20 UTC] No.32428014{5}[source]▶
Subscription fire departments and volunteer fire departments aren't the same thing. I know all about volunteer fire departments, and have worked with them in the past.

Subscription fire departments were commercial entities, sometimes run by insurance companies, to which you paid a regular subscription fee. If you house was on fire, they'd extinguish the flames. If your neighbor's house was on fire, and they didn't subscribe, then they let it burn.

Citing a completely different thing does not refute what I wrote. It just illustrates that you don't fully understand the issue.

replies(1): >>32435337 #
26. Ancapistani ◴[12 Aug 22 06:48 UTC] No.32435337{6}[source]▶
That’s literally how it works in much of the rural South. You pay fire dues, or they will only act to save human life. Otherwise they’ll watch your house burn to the ground with you.