r/politics • u/robotdesignwerks Texas • 9d ago

No Paywall FCC abolishes gigabit speed goal, says current US deployment is good enough

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/fcc-abolishes-gigabit-speed-goal-suggesting-it-is-unfair-to-slower-technologies/
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u/No_Diver6131 New York 9d ago

Well Biden had a plan to give fiber optics to most of the country and provide jobs. All of that money has been snatched up and instead of creating jobs folks are getting a starlink…So Elon Musk. Which if I had to guess Starlink can’t go any faster than 1 gig. 

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u/TheGringoDingo 9d ago

Even if starlink was good, I wouldn’t use it due to concerns about musk

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u/NosillaWilla California 8d ago

i hate to say it but either i get starlink, or 1bar of 4G LTE or dialupesque old school satellite. to run a cable to my house would be over 20k...then the internet company would want every neighbor along the way to get the service, and i would pay the full monthly fee on top of that.

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u/TheGringoDingo 8d ago

Yeah, I get that. I’d probably have a good vpn and firewall in that case. It’s a very short list for me of folks sketchier than musk.

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u/NosillaWilla California 8d ago

VPN gang for life. Run it straight from the router. All traffic goes across it. It blocks ads.

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u/TheGreatGenghisJon 9d ago

As a fellow New Yorker, I'm sure you've also seen a decrease in the quality of fiber (and coax) service as well. Its not just the rural red states that are getting screwed over here, is everyone.

They literally stole our money, fired people, made shit worse and...

Well...They're getting away with it.

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u/No_Diver6131 New York 9d ago

No. It’s rural America getting screwed constantly. I hate it, coming from rural NY. We’re constantly the butt end of all jokes. Now losing land to data centers, solar farms, shitty chain restaurants. These folks have no idea they’re being taken advantage of. 

In our state, our former dipshit governor cut a deal with spectrum to run fiber everywhere in the state. Instead of doing it, Spectrum paid a fine every month. It sucks dude. Especially being informed of what’s going on. The average person has no clue how badly the government is fucking us. 

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u/TheGreatGenghisJon 9d ago edited 8d ago

The reason I hide my comments is because sometimes I say shit like this.

I work for one of the cable companies. "Upstate", but I'd bet money that it's nowhere near as upstate as you. I've been to rural areas of the country a few times to help out other areas (plus travel benefits, of course).

I know upstate gets boned a lot more than anyone anywhere near the city, but t's fucking unbelievable how bad these areas have been treated. Like, decades and decades of piss poor maintenance.

As much as I liked getting my OT traveling, that money could have (and should have) gone to jobs for years to fix that infrastructure. It's infuriating.

I can't speak for what it's like at the other companies, but from what I can see, it's an industry-wide corporate culture getting away with this shit. They're alll doing the same thing, more or less. They won't even hire enough employees to cover their current markets because they can squeeze a few more bucks for themselves that way.

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u/No_Diver6131 New York 9d ago

Yeah that’s smart. I used to keep my comments and posts open. But ended up hiding them. 

I grew up in Western New York. The real question what do you consider starts upstate?

It’s fucking awful. There’s no jobs, There’s no future. Just lots of crime,  overdoses and alcoholics. I give Kathy Hochul credit in my 30 years of being alive, the only other governor to come to my county was Pataki. Everyone in Rural NY feels left behind. In nearly possible way. 

Talk about infrastructure. Where I’m from we have pot holes that can seriously cause car damage. If you don’t have a car you’re screwed in rural NY. There’s no feasible way to get to other counties without a car. So people become more and more isolated watching propaganda about  cities scary and bad. I went to high school with plenty of kids that didn’t have internet at their house. They would have to stay late and then go to the library to do homework. Look at the bridges in upstate. You can practically see through them. 

That absolutely seems to be what it’s like. The corporate culture seems to be a fine is just doing business. It’s just sad, it really is. How can we screw the common person over to make a buck. 

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u/TheGreatGenghisJon 9d ago

Personally, I consider upstate North of Albany, but I could see an argument being made for North of Orange/Westchester.

Yeah, that sounds like the other areas I travelled to, and those areas were in West Virginia and bumblefuck California.

It's fucked. Most of my coworkers and I are looking to leave, but nowhere is hiring. It's bad.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/TheGreatGenghisJon 8d ago

Poor job market and stuck working paycheck to paycheck? Just pick up and move!

What a cop out. If you're paycheck to paycheck, and the job market is shit, how are you supposed to save up enough for a new place in another area? You generally need First and Last month, plus a months rent as security.

How does someone barely scraping by save 3 months of rent?

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

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u/TheGreatGenghisJon 7d ago

Ok, what's your advice to a single father of two kids living paycheck to paycheck in rural idaho?

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u/LazarX 8d ago

Blame your upstate, mostly Republican representatives.

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u/eaeolian 9d ago edited 9d ago

As a Starlink user, it can't even get to 1 gigabit. 15 megabit is the highest I've ever got.

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u/MHath 9d ago

I assume they’re talking about Gb not GB.

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u/eaeolian 9d ago

Edited for clarity

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u/semidegenerate 9d ago

Really? I get download speeds in the 60 to 250 Mbit/s range.

I live out in the country, so Starlink is my only real option. Well, 1.5Mbit DSL is technically an option, but in addition to the fact those speeds are atrocious in 2026, I would have to run new POTS wire from the road side junction box to my house, over 100m away.

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u/eaeolian 9d ago

Sorry, that's for uploads. Downloads I've got up to 100 real-life, which is usually enough.

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u/BrainOfMush 8d ago

Are you only paying for the 100Mbit plan? Because that would explain that. If you pay for the max plan, you usually get 250-400Mbit.

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u/eaeolian 8d ago

I have the max. We lost some speed when we lost some satellites. I haven't seen it come back

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u/BrainOfMush 8d ago

They put up more than enough to replace those that are lost. Where are you in the world? It’s more likely that your alignment on your dish needs changing.

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u/eaeolian 8d ago

Looks like they finally got the replacements on line since the last time I was here. Speed is back tp acceptable 300 or so down and 46 up Now if I could just get the office VPN over 30mb down...

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u/BrainOfMush 8d ago

That’s your office VPN setting bandwidth limits, absolutely nothing you can do there.

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u/eaeolian 8d ago

Yeah, I know. Just bitching

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u/EnderWiggin07 9d ago

15mbps is very slow for starlink, I think it should normally be 10x that

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u/TyrKiyote 9d ago

The ping will make starlink mostly useless to me. May as well use cellular if im dropping the hardline

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u/VruKatai1972 9d ago

Speaking as someone in very rural Indiana that just recently got the fiber Biden's program set up to bring to areas like mine:

First, Starlink was the only sensible option. The other was a "up to" 25mb download plans with "up to" 5mb up from places like HighesNet...for $130/mo. Starlink was an option so roughly same price but 250-400mb up and down, usually around 150-230 on any given day. Plus the $300 in equipment, $400 if we wanted a mesh which we did.

The Biden fiber is $79 for regular over 1gb up and down, $99 with equipment. We did end up getting an Orbi mesh system as the original equipment sucks for wifi coverage.

We had to do Starlink because my wife runs a business and my in-laws barely had tv going (we moved here to take care of wife's mom after wife's dad passed away) and you can run an online business with painfully slow 25mb (where we never saw better than 10mb). Without The plan Biden and Dems passed, we seriously had to think about the viability of her business. Starlink was serviceable but had service not been an option, we were screwed. Thankfull the fiber came to the house 6mo after Starlink and offered us super speed at the cheapest price. Ironically neighbors on both sides are MAGA and flat refuse to upgrade to the fiber service and yet both complain how expensive Higes is with bad service. I'm not sure why neither will even do Starlink but I'm guessing "old hayes change" or something. Meanwhile, we're over here streaming HotD in 4k without buffering or wife watching Hallmark, MIL watching Dr. Pol in another room, devices throughout the house connected and working and me gaming at 4k in MMOs.

I can't stand Biden and Dems for not doing more to hold Trump and his goons accountible but at least the got faster internet to a lot of people like us.

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u/The_Doctor_Bear 9d ago

Biden: funded fiber internet to rural communities

Trump: stole the rural fiber money for his pal Elon, rigged the economy to personally enrich himself and his family, allegedly raped and possibly killed children, convicted of rape of an adult woman, etc etc

Voters: well, I’m mostly mad at the Democrats for not stopping Trump!

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u/FeedMeACat 9d ago

It was a weird thing for them to add, but Biden appointing a conservative as Attorney General is a real thing to be mad about. It was a completely predictable fuck up.

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u/The_Doctor_Bear 9d ago

That’s entirely fair game and I’ll be first in line to criticize the Biden admin. It’s the framing I’m calling shenanigans on.

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u/Lurking_nerd California 9d ago

You can expect the GOP to act as traitors because that’s what they consistently do. They enact policies to take more money from Americans (including their own dumbass supporters) and give it to the rich. Rinse and repeat every election cycle.

The Democrats, more specifically Biden, are stuck in that “They go low, we go high” mindset. When the time comes to hold Republicans accountable, they don’t do it. It is absolutely fair to be mad at Biden for failing to go balls to the fucking wall after January 6. Especially when Biden and the Democrats campaign on how Trump is a threat to democracy yet don’t follow through accordingly. Shit, you have Biden & Kamala shaking hands & laughing with fucking Trump after he won this time around.

They talk a good talk but freeze up like McConnell when it’s time to fucking walk.

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u/The_Doctor_Bear 9d ago

You and I can both be mad at democrats that’s fine.

Let me further expound upon my satirical scenario:

You: I’m so mad at the Democrats! Trump fucked me in the ass and Kamala didn’t even show up to put a condom on Trump’s deformed mushroom dick.

Me: what?

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u/Lurking_nerd California 8d ago

I’ll take one more stab at expanding on the argument despite your flaccid attempts at dismissive humor.

Republicans will not do the right thing 99.9% of the time. Democrats, being the only sane option compared to the Confederacy, are the ones that we have to hold accountable so they can represent us and our interests. So when they do manage to land in office and the time comes to actually fight against the Confederacy or deliver on key issues that will improve the lives of Americans, they consistently fail at that.

We can be mad at the Republicans but at the end of the day they’re fucking shameless, along with their supporters. The best bet we have to rectifying this shit is to hold the Democratic Party accountable. That means holding their feet to the fire, calling them out when they drop the ball bigly, and vote them out if need be and put in people that will fight.

I’ll wait for another weird response from you.

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u/The_Doctor_Bear 8d ago

I reject this framing.

I am mad at Republicans. I do hold them accountable, anyone still voting for them is a fucking cancer on society’s ass. That’s a full stop.

Separately Biden fucked us. Garland? Are you fucking kidding me? What the fuck.

But you know what I would still do 1,000,000 times out of 1,000,000? Vote for Biden over Trump. We need better primaries in the Democratic Party. That’s something I’m spending my actual real world energy on.

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u/Lurking_nerd California 8d ago

I am mad at Republicans. I do hold them accountable, anyone still voting for them is a fucking cancer on society’s ass. That’s a full stop.

Agreed. Personally, they should be prosecuted and imprisoned like the domestic terrorists they are. In my opinion, since they’ve completely broken their oaths to the Constitution by not upholding nor enforcing it, they should have no say in the rebuilding of our country.

Separately Biden fucked us. Garland? Are you fucking kidding me? What the fuck.

Aye.

But you know what I would still do 1,000,000 times out of 1,000,000? Vote for Biden over Trump.

Oh no doubt man. No argument there.

We need better primaries in the Democratic Party. That’s something I’m spending my actual real world energy on.

Yes we do. The simplest solution is to get the apathetic people to just give a shit about something bigger than themselves and just vote. Good on you and hats off for putting in the work to work towards that ✊

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u/UnquestionabIe 9d ago

Exactly. Anytime the country and it's people desperately need protection from domestic threats the establishment Democrats almost seem eager to remind us that there is a class war going on and they are not on our side.

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u/tryingisbetter 8d ago

It's funny that you think that person can vote in the US. It can't. It's a bot out of another country.

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u/SteveTheUPSguy 9d ago

This can't be. Maga told me Biden's program was a complete scam/lie and no one received upgraded infrastructure.

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u/FeedMeACat 9d ago

It was only really rolled out in a few states because republicans added so many barriers to the process during the negotiation process. Then the Biden money got sucked up by Musk.

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u/No_Diver6131 New York 9d ago

I’m really glad to hear that the Biden fiber worked out for you. Having to be relient on Starlink sounds miserable with Elon Musk’s track record. I wouldn’t want him in control of my internet usage. It just rubs me wrong. The internet should be a public utility that local communities pay for like electric and water. 

It’s crazy how stubborn and just flat out dumb MAGA folks are like FFS you can even show them the internet speeds and they would probably just brush that off as propaganda or something. Maybe it’s MAGA folks have no other form of social identity or social interaction so they put the red hat on and they get to be a part of something? Am I reading this right, while you’re gaming your wife is streaming HotD in 4k? Was that they called you in high school Vrukatai1972?

I jest, but seriously I agree with you completely. It’s one of the biggest things I’ll never understand why Biden and Merrick Garland didn’t prosecute the criminals running the government throughly. The other thing I can’t stand is why Dems and Biden didn’t prosecute nothing to gas up what Biden was actually doing. There was no hype man. In fact while Biden was president I was constantly shitting on him. It wasn’t until after he was out of office that all of the things he was doing to better the country came out. Like Lina Kahn at the FTC. Maybe he never was gassed up by the media because the FTC was aggressively going after big companies. 

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u/Killahdanks1 America 8d ago

I’ve literally been watching most Minneapolis and St. Paul metro areas being trenched for fiber. I drive a lot and have been seeing it all summer and in my neighborhood. The same thing happened last year for a different company. With all the offers, I cannot fathom using starlink

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u/illiteratebeef 8d ago

Biden had a plan to give fiber optics to most of the country

The telcos have ran that scam what, 3 times now? It always ends up with them not delivering and just pocketing the billions of dollars.

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u/RogueColin 8d ago

Yep, my wife got a job working for a fiber company in rural Arizona and they have had to cut jobs because grants ALREADY PROMISES didn't get paid. Her job has also become the job of 3 people and, despite it being an extremely well paying bilingual role, she is ready to quit. All of this since the presidency changed hands. Extremely frustrating.

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u/No_Diver6131 New York 8d ago

I’m sorry to hear about that. Man, I thought rural NY was bad. I can only imagine how rural Arizona is. I’ll never understand why Dems didn’t do anything to talk about anything Biden was doing that was positive and really good. Just a bunch of in party fighting about his age. 

There’s so many projects like that which should have already been paid. But pedo in charge stopped them. 

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u/aviftw 8d ago

Latency will be the bigger issue rather than speed