 Oh_NoTrogglus normalus
join:2011-05-21
Chicago, IL | Can they be Profitable? Indianola, IA
9.2 sq miles
15K population
It is a spaced out rural farm town.
If they can be profitable then they destroy any argument for ATT or others for not offering rural fiber.
ISP is MCG »www.mahaska.org/ |
|
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | Is that really rural? I don't consider a town of 15,000 rural. When I hear rural, I think of a few houses per square mile -- farm country. I completely understand why wiring farms is not profitable for anyone to service -- electricity, gas, water, sewer -- that kind of population density is just too sparse. |
|
Oh_NoTrogglus normalus
join:2011-05-21
Chicago, IL | 15,000 town is rural.
Pull up the map it is in the middle of farm fields. |
|
|
|
| reply to Oh_No
Yes, but there are plenty of towns that size that have cable systems. It may be surrounded by farms, but if there are enough people per square mile inside the town, then it'll be doable. |
|
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO | reply to Oh_No
Exactly what I was thinking. I actually went through this town last year on the way back from Yellowstone Natl Park. (I-29 was flooded between Omaha and Kansas City and they were routing folks west to Des Moines and south on I-35 to KC. After realizing how much back-tracking this entailed, I tried to short-circuit the detour by finding an east route from I-35 to 63 so I could head straight south to I-70.)
The town seemed larger than it's population -- like many towns that cannot rely on the services of a larger neighbor. It seemed big enough to offer an operator enough customers to pay for a back bone interconnect and dense enough to see profit from the infrastructure build out.
IMO, density and being of a certain minimum size weigh much more heavily than being a "bedroom" suburb or corn field suburb.
The other significant factor is average income. Unfortunately sometimes these small communities don't have a lot of discretionary income. |
|
| reply to Oh_No
I used to live near Indianola. The town is a rural town, but it is a nicely built out town. Very close to Des Moines. If I was still working in the area, this would make me pack up and move in. Internet access in that area of Iowa is one small step above complete crap.
Newflash, plenty of people don't live in cities with millions of people.  |
|
| reply to Oh_No
That argument failed when you have huge cities with several 10's of thousands of people that can barely get more than 10mb from them. |
|
