Broadband speed

[Sinned]

I live right at the end of a short cul-de-sac and about a year or so ago the council dug up the paths and relaid them with tarmac. At the same time they offered to lower kerbs cheaply so that we could drive the car onto our drive/front garden ( it's half paved, half grass growing through pebbles ) without going over a kerb. True to events our nice new paths didn't last long as shortly thereafter a cable company came along ad dug a narrow channel all along the paths to lay a fibre optic cable to give fast broadband thus blighting our pathways forever. We didn't take up the offer to subscribe but may do in future. It is part of a venture to do this for the whole of York and doubtless many thousands did subscribe. So venture capitalism is alive and well, in York anyway. It's a standing joke that if the council relay the roads or even just dress them ( scrape the surface, put a layer of tar down and a layer of stone chippings ) then some utility or other will come along and dig up the newly laid surface to put in a new cable/pipe or repair/replace an existing one. C'est la vie.

[denimini]

I feel lucky with my copper wires compared to many in the bush.
..... and most of the roads in the area are unsealed which makes them easy to dig up and fill in.
There was one pipe that was buried shallow on a "highway", but the sand blew away leaving the metal pipe exposed for years and one had to slow down as it was like a speed bump. I wish I had taken a photo but it just seemed accepted at the time.

speed_test.JPG

[Fred in Skirts]

It's a standing joke that if the council relay the roads or even just dress them ( scrape the surface, put a layer of tar down and a layer of stone chippings ) then some utility or other will come along and dig up the newly laid surface to put in a new cable/pipe or repair/replace an existing one. C'est la vie.

In my area the city repaved the road in front of my house when I lived in the city. Did a fantastic job of it too. Two weeks later here comes the phone company and dug it all up to put down a large cable trough the whole length of the street. When they finished they filled in the dirt and did not repave the street. All of the people who lived on the street filed complaints with the city council. I think mayhem was threatened as well. So the city forced the phone company to repave the whole street not just where they dug it up. A city engineer stayed on the scene the whole time to ensure it was done to the city's standard.

Fred

[Kirbstone]

A visiting American lunching in an upstairs restaurant with a wide view down onto a Dublin street was intrigued to observe an overall-clad bloke come along, raise several paving slabs in the footpath and dig a hole there. He then proceeded to do exactly the same some 15 yards further down the street, followed by the same procedure a further 15 yards along.
Then came a 2nd overall-clad bloke who filled each of the holes in and replaced the paving slabs.

Intrigued and not a little curious our American finished his lunch and walked down the street to ask the first bloke the obvious question.......'Ah well, de bloke dat plants de truees didn't show up at wurk t'day!'

Well, down our rural way the bloke with the cable hasn't shown up yet and we're making do with one strung between poles.

Tom

[dillon]

Without some public interest pressure, there is no incentive for government granted monopolies like phone and cable to compete. When they can reap profits without new investment, why would they invest in improved service? If it takes socialism to remedy that, then I am 100% for it.

Things like this are one of the myriad of reasons why humans form societies -- it's to protect the many from the vested interests of the few. The list of grievances is seemingly endless. Of course that line of thinking is akin to heresy nowadays. "Socialism" is, after all, in these parts, a four-letter word. What would The Donald think about it? The Koch brothers?

Feel the BERN, Carl!! LOL, and Lord help us...

My oh-so-progressive state's Republican Legislature actually passed a law prohibiting municipalities from supporting deals, via borrowing or bonds, to bring in Google Fiber, all to protect Time-Warner and Com-Cast and Century link and Verizon and a few other BIG POLITICAL DONORS. And the same hypocrite GOP pseudo-cons have the nerve to preach AGAINST big government...when they exemplify and embrace the WORST ABUSES of it. To paraphrase that once great telephone empire, "Reach out, reach out, and CRUSH someone!" The only people more intellectually dishonest than NC conservative polits are the dupes who elect them. At least we know the bad stuff our GOP polits do is simple corruption...they are the "kept women" in Art Pope's politician brothel, so to speak...unlike the clueless right-wingers who always vote as they are told but never trouble themselves to examine what they are actually buying into.

[Sinned]

At least I don't seem to be the only one to think that the term honest politician is the one of the BIGGEST oxymorons of all. I don't see that any of our leaders from local councillors through civil service, top union leaders to our MP's are free from corruption. I did think when I was in my 30s/40s of going into politics and then I thought about the life, being away from my family, the long hours and juggling London and local living and thought, "Ah to hell with it - I just don't want that," and have not had that insane thought again since.

[Gregg1100]

Thanks Sinned for the info---will try irfanview later tonight.