There are many types of broadband connection, but here are the ones that are most important for our discussion.
Here's a rough scan of available service plans in a few representative District 20 zipcodes, based on information provided by BroadbandNow. They seem to have pretty up-to-date info.
For each service plan, I name the company, the service type, the download speed, the per-month price, and the percentage of the zipcode that the service covers. This information doesn't say which portion of the zipcode covered, but I think we can safely assume that in most cases, the uncovered portions of a zipcode will be the furthest-from-town rural areas.
Note that the prices are deceptive. For example, the Spectrum 400Mbps in Northfield is $70 per month only for the first year, and only for new customers. I called for my own house, and I can only get 200Mbps, not 400Mbps, for $70.
Viasat | Satellite | 12-100 Mbps | $50-150 | 100% |
HughesNet (w/ data caps) | Satellite | 25 Mbps | $40-130 | 100% |
Spectrum | Cable | 200-940 Mbps | $50-110 | 88% |
CenturyLink (w/ data caps) | DSL | 10-20 Mbps | $45-50 | 89% |
Northfield WiFi | Fixed wifi | 3-30 Mbps | $40-70 | 100% |
Nextera | Fixed wifi | 2-3 Mbps | $60-125 | 98% |
Mediacom (w/ data caps) | Cable | 60-1000 Mbps | $40-80 | 80% |
Frontier | DSL | 6-45 Mbps | $28-45 | 85% |
RLI | Fixed wifi | 3-30 Mbps | $30-85 | 89% |
Xfinity (w/ data caps) | Cable | 15-1000 Mbps | $20-90 | 71% |
Bevcomm | DSL | 4-25 Mbps | $50-80 | 99% |
Bevcomm | Fiber | 50-1000 Mbps | $50-110 | 84% |
[No Cable!] | Cable | |||
Frontier | DSL | 6-45 Mbps | $28-45 | 76% |
CenturyLink (w/ data caps) | DSL | 10-20 Mbps | $45-50 | 19% |
RLI | Fixed wifi | 3-30 Mbps | $30-85 | 89% |
Northfield WiFi | Fixed wifi | 3-30 Mbps | $40-70 | 21% |
CenturyLink (w/ data caps) | Fiber | 40-1000 Mbps | $55-85 | 53% |
USI | Fiber | 300-1000 Mbps | $50-70 | 76% |
Xfinity (w/ data caps) | Cable | 15-1000 Mbps | $20-90 | 100% |
CenturyLink (w/ data caps) | DSL | 10-20 Mbps | $45-50 | 100% |
Nextera | Fixed wifi | 2-3 Mbps | $60-125 | 100% |
USI | Fixed wifi | 1-6 Mbps | $20-36 | 100% |
The Form 477 data-collection program that requires ISPs to report census-block coverage lets an ISP count an entire census block as served even if it can serve just one home in the block.So the ISPs are legally allowed/encouraged to way over-report their coverage.
FCC chairman Ajit Pai is typical of Trump agency heads in his support of eliminating regulations intended to protect consumers and the public interest. He generally defends deregulation by predicting that the deregulation will cause future investments by communications companies, but these investments are usually speculative fiction. Interestingly, Pai doesn't favor all large communications companies; rather, he has a particular interest in the financial welfare of the big ISPs (Verizon, Charter, Comcast, CenturyLink, AT&T) and news conglomerates.
This is my first draft, and not quite short enough for a quick conversation. But roughly, I'd make this argument.
Prepared for Jon Olson by Jeff Ondich, 11 December 2019