> with electricity and twisted copper pair, but not now, is what irks me
Electricity and telephones brought immediate, game changing benefits, and there was no alternative that was almost as good. Fiber still doesn’t offer “must have” benefits over existing alternatives for typical consumers. Maybe in the future with VR and whatnot, but not yet.
The demand for faster wired connections has stalled even on the LAN. Apple added GigE to the PowerMac in 2000, a year after the standard for 1000base-t was ratified. It’s been more then a decade since 10Gbase-t was ratified, and Apple just added it to a workstation this year. There has been almost no uptake outside the server room.
Lack of demand means that it’s hard to draw consumers away from existing options. FTTH uptake rates are below 50% (meaning less than half of homes who can get it actually subscribe, or put another way you have to build fiber past two or three homes to get one paying subscriber).
On the supply side, anything involving human labor is relatively more expensive compared to other inputs than it was then. Minimum enlisted military pay at the time of the rural electrification act was $9,000 per year (adjusted for CPI inflation). It’s double that today.
Electricity and telephones brought immediate, game changing benefits, and there was no alternative that was almost as good. Fiber still doesn’t offer “must have” benefits over existing alternatives for typical consumers. Maybe in the future with VR and whatnot, but not yet.
The demand for faster wired connections has stalled even on the LAN. Apple added GigE to the PowerMac in 2000, a year after the standard for 1000base-t was ratified. It’s been more then a decade since 10Gbase-t was ratified, and Apple just added it to a workstation this year. There has been almost no uptake outside the server room.
Lack of demand means that it’s hard to draw consumers away from existing options. FTTH uptake rates are below 50% (meaning less than half of homes who can get it actually subscribe, or put another way you have to build fiber past two or three homes to get one paying subscriber).
On the supply side, anything involving human labor is relatively more expensive compared to other inputs than it was then. Minimum enlisted military pay at the time of the rural electrification act was $9,000 per year (adjusted for CPI inflation). It’s double that today.