On 6/23/2019 4:06 PM, Chalo wrote:
In the early days of cycling, it was the pastime of rich fux, which gave it a certain implied legitimacy. Then for a time, it was the leading edge of high tech, to the point that the US government opened a second patent office just to serve cycling-related patents. So when this coalition of rich fux and tech boffins (and folks who aspired to be them) asked for some decent pavement, we started to get decent pavement.

It was the moral equivalent of today's public resources being thrown around to develop 5G, or yesterday's public resources being squandered to subsidize jet travel or freeways or railroads. Then as now, the rich and influential can use other people's money to get what they want. Sometimes it works out for those who pay the cost, and sometimes it doesn't. In the case of Good Roads, I think it worked in favor of almost everybody.


I'm not sure I get your point.

So far, there hasn't been serious consideration for publicly
owned (or built) 5th generation telephone service. The
shareholders[1] of the various providers/networks/operators
have been willing to invest and they will either make or
lose money. Like I care.

Big misunderstandings abound after spectrum allocation
(which has become an exemplar of dirty politics). The fast
download protocols of 5G are not well suited to the current
tower systems[2]. Comparable coverage would require some
large increment of the present number of towers/repeaters.
That is unlikely. More probably urban areas will rely more
on WiFi fed by fiber and other pipes with lower coverage
density as one leaves densely populated areas - just like
now but a sharper curve to non-service.

Do you know about a serious proposal to make a government
built or operated network?

[1] includes public employee and union pension funds, mutual
funds and so on besides 'the evil rich' who worked hard and
saved and old ladies who clip stock coupons - a nice cross
section of America.
[2] which in rural areas are as yet frequently ineffective
for today's telephone formats.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971