High-Speed Internet at a Crossroads
Key takeaways<p>- asymmetric broadband (high download speeds, low upload speeds) won&#x27;t work in a world where people are doing real work &quot;in a world of Zoom conferences, we need something that is more symmetric in download and upload — or at least upload speeds need to be a lot faster than they were when it was mostly Netflix and HBO Max&quot;<p>- rural&#x2F;urban divide is real and a severe problem &quot;for the most part, cities have done reasonably well, and rural areas have done reasonably badly. So this divide is really economic and population density&quot;<p>- the free market has few, if any, incentives, to build out to rural and low-density areas &quot;If you are running a wire, whether it be cable or fiber, it costs the same amount per mile pretty much no matter where you put it. So if you can put it someplace where you can service 100,000 people, it’s a lot more economically advantageous than if you’re going to be serving 20&quot;<p>- there isn&#x27;t any real free market anyway, since most locales have a single provider, maybe two &quot;while there may be multiple internet providers, there are very few internet providers at any single place. So we essentially have, at least in regions, de facto monopolies that have very little reason to increase their offerings, at least from the sense of competition.<p>- jobs will not be completely unconnected to location &quot;It’s still going to matter that you are in the same area so that on occasion, you can come into the office and meet physically together. But I think there’s going to be much less of the five days a week on campus sort of work. People will be able to work two to three days a week at home, without any loss of productivity or loss of culture within their group.&quot;