[anotherjesse]

The point is sometimes copper connections are the only options for voice and data. And now ATT and friends can stop servicing rural / small communities.

I live in a small community an hours drive from San Francisco. There is only ATT DSL. (no cable, only a couple cell services and none at all for some - including myself - due to the hills and valleys)

I am lucky and have DSL (5Mbps, and most of the time really 2Mbps, barely any upstream and it slows the downstream to a crawl when using it - example: watching youtube on 240p setting freezes when checking your email).

Many in my town have been without home internet for years. And even if you have cell coverage, the 10G of tethered data per month (that is what Verizon "unlimited" is) - can be eaten away in a day by a person not realizing their computer is updating or watching netflix on 720p.

There was once a healthy ecosystem of local ISPs. the big players killed them and now those healthy ecosystems will need to grow back. But it will be painful for those who have to go through networking withdraw.

[blaisio]

I know it's not entirely the town's fault because sometimes people make mistakes, and hindsight is 20/20, but some of that is the fault of the local government. Houses without solid internet access are way less valuable on the market. A lot of local governments are filled with people who have no idea what they're doing and end up really hurting their community. So if this is bothering you, you should get involved.

[Gibbon1]

Some places companies are making point to point microwave links available. As long as there is someplace you can get direct line of sight, you're good.

Personal feeling, copper or fiber can't compete with that on price at all.