Last week I related that Visible, according to an email they sent, would be launching 5G within a few weeks. They launched it this week instead. It's only available on the iPhone 12, but that's a temporary problem. They still don't have an affordable 5G phone, but 5G coverage isn't available where I live yet and likely won't be for some time. There's time for 5G phone prices to drop. So, 200Mbps top speed is on the way.
Recently, I also mentioned that my electric company was negotiating a rental fee for its power poles that would allow ISPs to bring broadband into underserved areas like mine. I can only get 1.5Mbps via DSL at this location due to a monopoly situation in the local market, which caused me to upgrade to 4G LTE internet instead. There's good news on that front. The state Public Service Commission has set the pole fee at $1 for the first 6 years and $27.71 per pole after that. With rates that high will it be worth it for anyone to bring broadband here? I don't know. The national average is $20/pole. Not far from here the rate is $7. I suspect the price an ISP would have to charge customers in order to offset the pole fee is going to be high.
By this time next year, this area could be looking at these internet options:
- Visible capped at 200MBps for $25/mo.
- Verizon 5G internet for $70/mo.
- Windstream capped at 1.5Mbps for $55/mo.
- New ISP capped at ??? for ???/mo.
- Satellite internet. Not interesting enough to look up the numbers.
As an added good news, part of the deal for renting a power pole to bring broadband here is that the speed has to be 25Mbps download minimum and 3Mbps minimum upload. That's plenty for streaming 1080p or downloading the occasional large software update.
In other news Israel and Morocco are normalizing relations and bringing full peace in the Middle East one step closer.
Have a great weekend.
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