Kudos to Richard Lowenberg for the link
This week, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules for the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program, providing $7.171 billion for schools and libraries for the purchase of connected devices and broadband connections for use by students, school staff, and library patrons at locations other than a school or library.
For those with good internet connections in urban areas, the issue is more about enough broadband to make a “hybrid” remote work /remote learning site run smoothly.
If mom is doing an online meeting and my grandson is chilling with some TV streaming after his Zoom school, broadband for everyone will require more then connections.
Good Point Kris. As LFH, WFH, and HFH advance the use of video… the bandwidth requirements for residential use continue to increase. As do costs to the residents who are often in what amounts to a monopoly “marketplace” for ISP service.
And bandwidth requirements are still likely to increase in years to come to handle AR and VR and “the other things”, as JFK noted.
As the US tries to re-establish world leadership in infrastructure that supports a vibrant economy, we will need to include a vision of bandwidth as a public utility, or service. “PSA” exists to support that vision, and all that it entails.