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Late last year, Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr got an "earful" from remote Alaskan residents who were concerned with how poor their access to the internet is — and they weren't wrong. Alaska has, on average, some of the slowest internet connections in the country, primarily due to its distance from the rest of the continental United States.
But remote Alaskans may see faster speeds soon. MTA Fiber Holdings announced today that it would build the "first and only all-terrestrial" fiber optic network running from Alaska and into the Lower 48. The line will begin in North Pole, Alaska and will travel through Canada, connecting with Canadian carriers, where it will finally connect with "any major hub" in the US. A vast majority of Alaska's current connections to the global internet either run through a handful of submarine cables, satellites, or wireless connections.
"This is a major step for Alaska that will ensure future capacity requirements for MTA members and can support the continuing growth of broadband across the state of Alaska," MTA CEO Michael Burke said in a statement.
According to the press release, only internet traffic that both originates and terminates in the US will be carried over the network.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Friday May 03 2019, @08:59PM (4 children)
All that extra speed will mean nothing when you have a data cap of 50gb/month for $100/month because
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 03 2019, @09:47PM (3 children)
50 gigabits is only 6.25 gigabytes. Your standards are about two decades out of date if you think that's a lot.
That said, even you mean 50 gigabytes rather than gigabits, given
50 gigabytes is not that significant a monthly usage for even one person, never mind a household.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday May 03 2019, @10:07PM (1 child)
Plans might vary by location, but here's what I'm seeing:
https://www.mtasolutions.com/residential/internet/ [mtasolutions.com]
$60/month for 150 GB cap
$89/month for 300 GB cap
"$1 per GB overage charge is incurred once the plan cap has been exceeded."
$99/month for no cap
$129/month for no cap
$149/month for no cap
$169/month for no cap
Not sure what the speeds are.
"And MTA never throttles our customers down to unusable speeds."
An interesting statement. Define the lowest possible "usable speed".
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Friday May 03 2019, @10:16PM
Thats quite a bit higher than what I recall from when I lived up there. When I lived up there I argued frequently with a person at MTA with decision making power about how unreasonable the low caps were and what was, at the time, a 50gb throttle to stop the "abusers". Pretty much all an excuse to not upgrade their infrastructure.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Friday May 03 2019, @10:12PM
The quote I had above is from someone at MTA
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam