how much woould it take to distribute internet to every person in north america

You have to pay for it somehow, it takes people and equipment, that needs to be installed, upgraded, maintained, and administered. Free is just not doable at the moment, unless you want to be forced to see adverts. That sounds rather sucky.

Also, your target market 'everybody in north america'. Well, some people have other priorities over free internet. You need 100% literacy first, really.

It would probobly take entirely new technology. most likely satelite technology. Or based on current satelite technology. The truth of it is that we have pretty good satelite communication abilities, but it isnt near good enough to succeed on the level that you are questioning.

Though I do now get free wireless on my CSU campus. So its a start.

A surprisingly large number of people would not care about having internet even if it were free.

If really bare bones and slow internet were free, a very large number of users would ignore it and keep their fast paid service.

Everyone with a phone line and a computer need make no further investment to get free internet.

Every dwelling in North America rather than every person further reduces the number of offers to be made.

So, if free internet were made available to everyone in North America, only a fraction of the population number is the number of installations to be made.

Only a few years ago, there were isp(s) offering free service at no cost. I have not kept aware of their current existence or circumstances.

Everyone needs computers first.

Only a few years ago, there were isp(s) offering free service at no cost. I have not kept aware of their current existence or circumstances.
So how the hell did they get their money? banners and popups?

Well I think the internet is basically free to everyone right now, I mean the library has time you can rent for using, you have USB flash drives to download stuff too, it's all pretty simple now.

I do think the day will come when the internet is free just like TV, I mean you guys are stupid for saying it costs money, bla bla bla, it does but so did TV when it first came out, don't give me any of that shit nonsense.

Eventually highspeed internet will be free to everyone, most likely because they'll include it in the cost of building homes.

It is free at the Library.

It is free at the Library.

Not if you pay taxes, it's not.

how much woould it take to distribute internet to every person in north america
i can't say for north america but in the US the internet is available to almost everyone that goes to the library.
i would say that 99% of americans have internet access.

I do think the day will come when the internet is free just like TV, I mean you guys are stupid for saying it costs money, bla bla bla, it does but so did TV when it first came out, don't give me any of that shit nonsense.
Right... I'd just love to have my surfing interrupted every ten minutes for a five minute ad break :bugeye:

Eventually highspeed internet will be free to everyone, most likely because they'll include it in the cost of building homes.
So your telephone is free because the cable and connection is included in the cost of your home? Don't be a dick.

Even if/when it is made available to all, it still has to be paid for. Riding your bike on the road is free, right? Except that someone paid for that road to be built and maintained.

The only thing that would make it extremely cheap would be atomic processors.

while initially very expensive, in time the cost per atom will probobly go down(considereing there are billions and billions on the tip of a pen)

The face of computing and communications has to change. But this is happening at a redicuously fast rate, so hold on to your butts.

But you said some ISPs were delivering a FREE service already.

ISPs deliver free internet, but it is always accompanied by adds and spyware type software. Most of the time it is slow. My school just started giving free wireless, opposed to its previous 8 dollars a month for it. But when your paying some Ks in tuition, its not really as free as you think.

In estonia wireless network around schools, universities, gas stations, bars, pubs, cinemas etc is mostly free for anyone. Last year goverment proposed to cover whole capital with wireless internet as a test to later cover whole nation... I havent heard much about it after that :(

I do think the day will come when the internet is free just like TV, I mean you guys are stupid for saying it costs money, bla bla bla, it does but so did TV when it first came out, don't give me any of that shit nonsense.

I used to work for an ISP, so I think I know what I'm talking about. We offered 'free' internet access, but you had to be a telephony subscriber, so all it was was a hidden cost, not free. As I got paid to do what I did, someone was paying for that, so money was coming from somewhere, wasn't it?

TV companies generate revenue by showing adverts, and I mentioned that in my post. So unless ISPs find a way to generate revenue from advertising, there will always be a hidden cost to internet access. They have staff to pay, you know?

Eventually highspeed internet will be free to everyone, most likely because they'll include it in the cost of building homes.

So that takes care of the cost of a small amount of local infrastructure, maybe the fibre to the local exchange. Then what? Who pays for the routers, and ATM backbone? Who maintains that? Who is paid to sit and answer the phone to answer queries and organise stuff getting fixed? It's not just a set up cost, there are ongoing costs, and that is why it can never be 'free'

In estonia wireless network around schools, universities, gas stations, bars, pubs, cinemas etc is mostly free for anyone. Last year goverment proposed to cover whole capital with wireless internet as a test to later cover whole nation... I havent heard much about it after that :(

Norwich, UK has recently adopted a Test for making the city centre Wireless.

http://www.norfolkopenlink.com/

You can pretty much login on any PC, PDA or WIFI compatible mobile phone and surf the internet. The speeds have been rigged so you only get 256kbps connections (So as not to compete with comercial broadband with higher bandwidth) but there is also a commercial sector connection speed which is higher (1mbps).

As far as I know, no advertisements have been broadcast over it as of yet, however you get logged off after 1 hr, which means you can hardly turn to it to download large files for free.

Norwich, UK has recently adopted a Test for making the city centre Wireless.

http://www.norfolkopenlink.com/



Paid for by council tax, and govt grants it would appear;

"Norfolk Open Link is a £1.1 million two-year pilot project, ...fully funded by the East of England Development Agency."

I think we have to distinguish between 'free' and 'hidden cost' here. It's all very whizzo to have 'free' broadband in city centres, but the economics just don't add up. Resellers of BT broadband will die a death because of this, and cable companies may lose the last leg of supply, from exchange to house, but they will just increase prices elsewhere, as will BT, to compensate for this loss and pay to maintain the network backbone.

Someone has to pay, somewhere. I'd rather know what I'm paying, to whom, and for this to be transparant, and have the ability to unsubscribe.

It always kind of bothers me when the government taxes people to pay for something, then gives it to people and calls it "free". You're not getting something for free, you're being forced to buy a product whether you want it or not. If you want a better/different version of the product, you end up having to pay for it twice - once for the version that the government is making you buy and once for the version that you actually use.

internet is infrastructure
it is a fundamental right
given by god
and taxes

i say eminent domain

fuck cox
fuck at&t
and the like

internet is infrastructure
it is a fundamental right
given by god
and taxes

i say eminent domain

fuck cox
fuck at&t
and the like
Trains are infrastructure, but the government doesn't buy everyone a train ticket.

Sure as hell, it would cost alot less than the Iraq war.

Trains are infrastructure, but the government doesn't buy everyone a train ticket.
Train tickets in the UK are subsidised. We don't pay the real cost. Airline tickets are even more subsidised.

Train tickets in the UK are subsidised. We don't pay the real cost. Airline tickets are even more subsidised.
There are plenty of other examples. The phone system is infrastructure, but the government doesn't pay everyone's phone bill - in fact in the US you have to pay an extra phone tax to the government on your phone bill in addition to what you pay to the phone company. Same with the electrical grid.

Gustav seemed to be under the impression that using infrastructure is some sort of fundamental right that the government should pay for with taxes, but most critical elements of our infrastructure aren't free, so I don't know where he gets that idea. The only example of an infrastructure system that's free to everyone that I can think of would be public roads - although even with those, the government certainly doesn't buy everyone a car.

The only example of an infrastructure system that's free to everyone that I can think of would be public roads - although even with those, the government certainly doesn't buy everyone a car.

In the UK, fuel duty, and road tax generate more revenue for the govt than they spend on roads. The infrastructure is profitable. Of course, if you don't drive, you don't pay, and that is the crux of it I think.

how much woould it take to distribute internet to every person in north americaYou posted an open-ended question but haven't yet replied. What type of an answer do you want. Of course a question like this depends on many different parameters, so how do you want us to answer this?

nasor

i too, went thru your line of reasoning with the same examples before posting.
the flaw there is the premise. simply because someone wants to charge for shit does not mean one has to accept it as the only way

there are altenatives and we must be vigilant
for instance, what the fuck is this shit? (http://www.google.com/search?as_q=internet+two+tier&num=100&hl=en&newwindow=1&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=off)

how things (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi#Free_Wi-Fi) could be

taxes involve money anyway
everything the govt builds or maintains is paid for by those they govern
ja, my nickel

hmm
"free" is a state of mind

The infrastructure is profitable.

fucking pols and their pork. i spit on them
a govt should cover costs only
govt should be a non-profit org
budget surpluses means you got fucked up the ass

rebates & refunds
when do we want it?

now

If tax wasn't spent on giving "Free" things what would you expect them to do with it, increase the stuffing of their already brimming mattress?

People are right though, there is no such thing as "Free", it has a cost somewhere along the line. I did neglect to mention however a project that was mentioned at some point in one of the magazines in regards to how some students created their own Wireless network on campus. Quite simply they just all left their wireless routers open which allowed them to create an "On-The-Fly" network, which in turn could share the internet resources that each person was using while also sharing files/streaming without having to utilise the Campus's wired bandwidth.

Ah, now Stryder, that sort of community type project is far closer to the ideal of 'free'. But of course, if it dents ISP revenue, will be shortlived.