使农村宽带民主化正在使它变得比原来更难

We have electricity and water to rural homes. There is no reason to not have broadband internet as well.

我们为农村家庭提供水电。 没有理由也没有宽带互联网。

If right about now you’re thinking to yourself that it’s not that easy; you’re part of the problem. If those that stand in the middle really wanted to solve this problem and they really wanted to empower rural Americans, (let’s face it, it’s mostly farmers and farming communities), then it can be done. Politics, regulation, greed, whatever you want to call it, at the end of the day it’s bullshit.

如果现在正确，那么您正在想自己并不是那么容易。 你是问题的一部分。 如果那些站在中间的人真的想解决这个问题，并且他们真的想增强美国农村人口的能力(让我们面对现实，那主要是农民和农业社区)，那么就可以做到。 政治，规章，贪婪，不管你想称呼什么，到最后都是胡说八道。

I worked in IT and telecom for over 20 years. So let me tell you how this goes. Electric Membership Corporations or Cooperatives, (EMC’s), own both the poles that carry power lines across this country as well as the conduit if it’s buried underground. They installed it. It’s their “right-of-way”. So if you want to use these poles or right’s of way, you have to pay them.

我在IT和电信领域工作了20多年。 所以让我告诉你这是怎么回事。 电子会员公司或合作社(EMC's)既拥有在全国范围内承载电线的电线杆，又拥有埋在地下的管道。 他们安装了它。 这是他们的“通行权” 。 因此，如果您想使用这些电线杆或路标，则必须付费。

Competitive Local Exchange Carrier’s, (or CLEC’s), are your “phone companies”. This group has a mix of paying the EMC’s to “follow their path”as well as created their own path in some instances. If it is a path they created, then they also considered it their “right-of-way”… so if you want to ride along you have to pay.

有竞争力的本地交换运营商(或CLEC)是您的“电话公司” 。 该小组需要付出一定的代价，EMC会“遵循他们的道路” ，并在某些情况下创建自己的道路。 如果这是他们创造的道路，那么他们也将其视为“通行权” ……因此，如果您想沿途行驶，则必须付费。

Fine. I do think it’s only fair that since they invested the time, funding, effort, etc to build these paths, then they should be allowed to charge for access… even if they’re charging 20 times over for the same wooden pole for 50 years…whatever.

精细。 我确实认为这是公平的，因为他们花费了时间，资金，精力等来构建这些路径，所以应该允许他们为访问收取费用……即使他们为同一根木杆收取了50倍的费用超过了20年…随你。

Some History

一些历史

Power has become considered an essential utility, or an essential element of modern life, as it was declared in the 1920’s. BUT, who was going to pay to run these lines to all the homes? EMC’s were willing to do so in the 1920’s but could not justify the cost. Because of the Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover wasn’t about to use government funding to help with this. He believed in individuals helping themselves and using private charities to get by. It was not until the 1930’s under President Franklin Roosevelt that the United States government began economic relief under the New Deal which in its earliest form was relief for the agriculture industry and rural Americans…farmers.

正如1920年代所宣布的那样，权力已被视为一种重要的效用或现代生活的一项基本要素。 但是，谁愿意为将这些线路铺设到所有房屋上而付费？ EMC愿意在1920年代这样做，但无法证明其成本合理。 由于大萧条，总统赫伯特·胡佛(Herbert Hoover)不会动用政府资金来帮助解决这一问题。 他相信个人会自我帮助并利用私人慈善机构度过难关。 直到1930年代，美国总统富兰克林·罗斯福(Franklin Roosevelt)才根据《新政》开始经济救济， 《新政》最早的形式是为农业和美国乡村……农民提供救济。

Today, internet is still not seen as an “essential element of modern life”… even though we pay our utilities bills…go figure… on line.

如今，互联网仍不被视为“ 现代生活的基本要素” ……即使我们支付水电费……按数字……在线。

So the CLEC’s follow the EMC’s path but stop short going to the rural communities. Why? Same reason as the EMC’s in history; the can’t justify the cost for so few subscribers. This brings us back to the government getting involved to help out. But the government looks to help with installation… what about ongoing maintenance and troubleshooting? Because companies like Verizon eventually give up on the rural communities. In 2017 Verizon sent notification to 8,500 customers in 13 states basically saying, “thanks but you’re not worth it”.

因此，CLEC遵循EMC的道路，但绝不短途进入农村社区。 为什么？ 与EMC历史相同的原因； 这么少的订阅者无法证明这笔费用是合理的。 这使我们回到了政府介入以提供帮助的地方。 但是政府希望在安装方面提供帮助……持续的维护和故障排除又如何呢？ 因为像Verizon这样的公司最终放弃了农村社区 。 2017年，Verizon向13个州的8,500个客户发送了通知，基本上说：“谢谢，但您不值得”。

But wait… there’s more.

但是等等...还有更多。

These EMC’s and CLEC’s are still somewhat unionized from the 1950’s. So when the government economic relief comes to light…guess who says they want a piece of the pie in addition to their fees for “right-of-way”access! In my experience working with most of these unions, not only does it take forever to make any progress, but the craftsmanship and knowledge of today’s fiber splicing, terminating, SFP connectors, router installs and configurations, IP telephony, and much more is limited at best.

这些EMC和CLEC仍在1950年代有所结合。 因此，当政府的经济救济浮出水面时，猜猜谁说除了“通行权”访问费外，他们还想要一块蛋糕！ 以我与大多数工会合作的经验，不仅要取得长足进步，而且对当今的光纤熔接，端接，SFP连接器，路由器安装和配置，IP电话以及其他方面的技巧和知识也仅限于以下几点：最好。

So you’re going to bring in a 3rd party to do the installs and won’t let our unions…? FINE! The price for “access” just tripled!

所以您要带一个第三方来进行安装，并且不要让我们的工会……？ 精细！ “访问”的价格只是原来的三倍！

And here we sit today…in 2019…with no rural connectivity. Large CLEC’s have the lobbyists and funding to barrage the government to be awarded the economic relief for rural broadband but the funds are never used for that. Shit, they’re not even earmarked for it and can’t answer to where it went….AND THEN THE GOVERNMENT GIVES IT TO THEM AGAIN THE NEXT TIME!! I watched it play out right here in GA. I was on the rural broadband study commission in 2017 and was asked to testify to the state representatives, in front of local EMC’s and CLEC’s on this very issue. I watched Comcast get up, admit they don’t know where the $305M went, but it’s gone and there’s been little expansion to rural markets here in GA. Senator Steve Gooch actually said, “So you took $305M for a shitty network and just expanded a shitty network?”… YUP!

今天我们坐在这里……在2019年……没有乡村联系。 大型CLEC拥有游说者和资金来游击政府，以使其获得农村宽带的经济救济，但这些资金从未用于此。 该死，他们甚至都没有为此专门指定，也无法回答它的去向……。然后，政府再次将其给予他们！ 我在GA观看了它的播放。 我曾在2017年参加农村宽带研究委员会，并被要求在当地的EMC和CLEC面前向州代表作证。 我看着康卡斯特(Comcast)站起来，承认他们不知道这3.05亿美元的去向，但它已经消失了，在乔治亚州的农村市场几乎没有扩张。 参议员史蒂夫·古奇(Steve Gooch)实际上说：“那么，您花了3.05亿美元购买了一个糟糕的网络，而只是扩大了一个糟糕的网络？”…是的！

In October of 2018 I was invited to the USDA by Sonny Perdue to discuss this same topic but on a federal level as it pertains to the whole country. The story is not much different here.

2018年10月，我受桑尼·珀杜(Sonny Perdue)邀请参加了美国农业部(USDA)讨论同一主题，但涉及整个国家，但在联邦一级。 这里的故事没什么不同。

Making It Happen

使它发生

The CLEC’s or EMC’s have the paths to homes. If you want access, pay them. If they get greedy and stupid, award the funding to the thousands of small local fiber providers who give a shit about the rural communities and let them build it out and be the competitor to the large CLEC’s.

CLEC或EMC都有通往家园的道路。 如果要访问，请支付费用。 如果他们变得贪婪和愚蠢，则将资金奖励给成千上万的小型本地光纤供应商，这些本地光纤供应商对农村社区感到不满，让他们扩大规模并成为大型CLEC的竞争者。

In urban environments the average cost to run fiber is $80k per mile. Yes it’s a lot of money but it’s also a lot of work. Boring under sidewalks and streets, watching out for power, gas, and water lines… all while trying not to disrupt traffic. Rural communities do not have these issues as extreme. There’s also a way to get assistance here. All the equipment required to dig a trench in the ground several feet to lay conduit… do you know who else has that kind of equipment?Farmers.

在城市环境中，光纤的平均运行成本为每英里8万美元。 是的，这是很多钱，但也需要很多工作。 在人行道和街道下无聊，当心电力，煤气和水线……所有这些都是为了不干扰交通。 农村社区没有极端的这些问题。 这里也有获得帮助的方法。 挖地面几英尺以铺设管道所需的所有设备……您知道还有谁拥有这种设备吗？农民。

I’m just going to go out on a limb here…so bear with me because this is going to sound really crazy… but what if you asked the farmers to help so as to lower the cost even more…? I’m betting if the trade-off was rural connectivity at a fair price; they’d do it.

我只是在这里弯腰……所以忍受，因为这听起来真的很疯狂……但是如果您要求农民提供帮助以进一步降低成本呢？？ 我敢打赌，是否要以合理的价格权衡农村连通性？ 他们会做到的。

What would really interest me is how much “economic relief” have we spent over decades only to make little progress? When are we going to start building on our own, one community at a time, and let the large EMC’s and CLEC’s sit idly by while we rebuild America’s infrastructure?

我真正感兴趣的是几十年来，我们为使进展缓慢而花了多少“经济救济” ？ 我们何时应该一次建立一个社区，而在重建美国的基础架构时，让大型的EMC和CLEC袖手旁观？

What’s it going to take to work together for the prosperity and development as a nation as a whole rather than one entity over another? I’m all for capitalism, but what happened to the patriotism of corporations within the protection and security of the very nation that provides the freedom to operate as they do?Shit. We’re making it harder than it needs to be. Get it together.

为了整个国家的繁荣与发展，而不是一个实体与另一个实体一起，要做什么？ 我全力支持资本主义，但是在提供自由运作的国家的保护和安全下，公司的爱国主义发生了什么？ 我们正在使其变得比原来更难。 把它收集起来。

翻译自: https://medium.com/over-coffee/democratizing-rural-broadband-were-making-it-harder-than-it-needs-to-be-fbd5d8c67864