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358 points throw0101c | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.204s | source
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oytis ◴[] No.44609364[source]
I just hope when (if) the hype is over, we can repurpose the capacities for something useful (e.g. drug discovery etc.)
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jandrewrogers ◴[] No.44610554[source]
During the 1990s dotcom boom we massively overbuilt fiber networks. It was indiscriminate and most of the fiber was never lit.

After the dotcom crash, much of this infrastructure became distressed assets that could be picked up for peanuts. This fueled a large number of new startups in the aftermath that built business models figuring out how to effectively leverage all of this dead fiber when you don't have to pay the huge capital costs of building it out yourself. At the time, you could essentially build a nationwide fiber network for a few million dollars if you were clever, and people did.

These new data centers will find a use, even if it ends up being by some startup who picks it up for nothing after a crash. This has been a pattern in US tech for a long time. The carcass of the previous boom's whale becomes cheap fuel for the next generation of companies.

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segmondy ◴[] No.44610668[source]
I can barely get 50Mbps up/down and I only have xfinity in this area. No fiber, I will pay for it, but here we are. 2025 in good ol USA. In an urban area too.
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suddengunter ◴[] No.44610769[source]
wow

When a few years ago I moved from Eastern Europe (where I had 1GB/s to my apartment for years) to the UK I was surprised that "the best" internet connection I was able to get was about 40MBit/s phone line. But it's a small town, and during past years even we have fiber up to 2GB/s now.

I'm surprised US still has issues that you mentioned. Have you considered Starlink(fuck Musk, but the product is decent)/alternatives?

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1. mad0 ◴[] No.44616873[source]
I think this is because the infra is already built and so there is no incentive to upgrade, since you won't get more customers, aside maybe taking them from competition. Afaik even the latter might be an issue, because typically you get whatever provider that is in the given building, so the provider wont get any new customers.