<div dir="ltr"><div><div class="m_-2363178324843783235gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr">
<table class="m_-2363178324843783235backgroundTable" bgcolor="#ffffff" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align="left" valign="top">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="border-top:0px solid rgb(0,0,0);border-bottom:1px solid rgb(255,255,255);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:10px;color:rgb(96,96,96);line-height:200%;font-family:verdana;text-decoration:none">Email not displaying correctly? <a href="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/" style="font-size:10px;color:rgb(0,0,255);line-height:200%;font-family:verdana;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">View it in your browser.</a></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top:0px solid rgb(51,51,51);border-bottom:0px solid rgb(255,255,255);background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
<center><a><img id="m_-2363178324843783235editableImg1" src="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/themes/unlimited/assets/images/4cast_email_header.png" title="OPLIN" alt="OPLIN 4Cast" align="middle" border="0"></a></center>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table style="width:763px;height:877px" bgcolor="#ffffff" cellpadding="20" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="font-size:12px;color:rgb(0,0,0);line-height:150%;font-family:'Gothic Sans',sans-serif" bgcolor="#ffffff" valign="top">
<p> <span style="font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:arial;line-height:110%">OPLIN 4Cast #608: Paying high-speed prices for slow broadband</span><br>
<span style="font-size:11px;font-weight:normal;color:rgb(102,102,102);font-style:italic;font-family:arial">August 22nd, 2018</span></p>
<p style="text-align:justify;font-size:16px;font-family:arial;line-height:110%"><img align="left" class="m_-2363178324843783235alignleft m_-2363178324843783235size-full m_-2363178324843783235wp-image-6101" src="https://4cast.oplin.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Fotolia_211514969_XS.jpg" alt="snails and computer cord concept of slow internet" width="130" height="94" style="padding-right:14px;padding-top:4px;padding-bottom:4px"> When it comes to digital equity, "Net Neutrality" gets most of the headlines, with some secondary attention paid to the <a href="http://www.wksu.org/post/advocates-push-regulators-stop-atts-plan-drop-ohio-lifeline-program#stream/0" target="_blank">Lifeline program</a> -- telephone and internet subsidies for people near or below the poverty line. A <a href="https://www.digitalinclusion.org/blog/2018/07/31/tier-flattening/" target="_blank">white paper</a> from the <a href="https://www.digitalinclusion.org/" target="_blank">National Digital Inclusion Alliance</a> has drawn attention to another lever in the digital divide, a practice NDIA calls "tier flattening": increasingly, internet access costs the same, whether you're on rural dial-up speeds or urban municipal fiber. While it comes as no surprise that providers build infrastructure where they stand a better chance of selling services, commentators question whether people trapped with fewer, slower options should have to pay the same for a fraction of the speed.</p><ul>
<li style="list-style-type:none">
</li><li style="text-align:justify;font-size:16px;font-family:arial;line-height:110%"><a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2018/08/14/tech/evenly-distributed/slow-internet-fast-internet-you-might-be-paying-same-price" target="_blank">Slow internet? Fast internet? You might be paying the same price</a> [<i>Marketplace</i>] "The National Digital Inclusion Alliance found that lots of customers are paying about $60 a month for their internet packages. Some get super slow internet speeds, while others get super fast speeds."</li>
<li style="text-align:justify;font-size:16px;font-family:arial;line-height:110%"><a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/are-at-t-and-verizon-fleecing-rural-america/" target="_blank">Are AT&T and Verizon fleecing rural America?</a> [<i>CNET</i>] "A large majority of these unconnected or underconnected Americans live in rural areas where it's expensive to build infrastructure and deliver service. The situation also happens to be in parts of the country where there's little if any competition. And that seems to be a better predictor of whether the networks have been upgraded to higher speeds."</li>
<li style="text-align:justify;font-size:16px;font-family:arial;line-height:110%"><a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/08/50-a-month-for-1mbps-how-att-and-verizon-rip-off-dsl-customers/" target="_blank">$50 a month for 1Mbps: How AT&T and Verizon rip off DSL customers</a> [<em>Ars Technica</em>] "AT&T didn't dispute any of the specific prices from the NDIA report but called it 'misleading'... 'Attempting to assess Internet service offerings by only looking at standard rates does not give a complete picture; the Internet service market is more competitive than ever and most customers make their purchases at bundled and discounted rates.'"</li>
<li style="text-align:justify;font-size:16px;font-family:arial;line-height:110%"><a href="https://boingboing.net/2018/08/01/immortan-joe-isp.html" target="_blank">Now that telcos have "abandoned rural America," the only broadband comes from cable monopolies</a> [<em>Boing Boing</em>] "You know what's worse than shopping for your ISP in a market served by a cable/telco duopoly? Getting your internet from a cable monopolist who faces no competition at all."</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align:left"> </div>
<p style="text-align:left;font-size:20px;font-family:arial;line-height:110%"><small><strong><em>From the <a href="http://ohioweblibrary.org" target="_blank">Ohio Web Library</a>:</em></strong></small><br>
</p>
<div style="text-align:justify;font-size:16px;font-family:arial;line-height:110%">
<ul> <li>Martin, Crystle. "<a href="http://proxy.oplin.org:2054/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=116757063&site=ehost-live" target="_blank">A Library's Role in Digital Equity</a>." <i>Young Adult Library Services</i>, vol. 14, no. 4, Summer2016, pp. 34-36.</li> <li>Hamaker, Christian. "<a href="http://proxy.oplin.org:2054/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=128924168&site=bsi-live" target="_blank">Rural Broadband: Tempest or Tranquility?</a>" <i>Rural Telecom</i>, vol. 37, no. 2, Spring2018, p. 6.</li> <li>Duvail, Zippy. "<a href="http://proxy.oplin.org:2054/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sch&AN=125852590&site=scirc-live" target="_blank">Time to Get Rural America up to Speed with Broadband</a>." <i>Texas Agriculture Magazine</i>, vol. 33, no. 6, 20 Oct. 2017, p. 2.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div style="text-align:left"> </div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="760"><span style="font-size:10px;color:rgb(96,96,96);line-height:100%;font-family:verdana"> <hr>
<div style="text-align:justify">The <strong><em>OPLIN 4cast</em></strong> is a weekly compilation of recent headlines, topics, and trends that could impact public libraries. You can subscribe to it in a variety of ways, such as: <br>
</div>
<div style="text-align:left"> </div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><strong>RSS feed.</strong> You can receive the OPLIN 4cast via RSS feed by subscribing to the following URL: <a href="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/index.php/?feed=rss2" target="_blank">http://www.oplin.org/4cast/<wbr>index.php/?feed=rss2</a>.</li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><strong>Live Bookmark.</strong> If you're using the Firefox web browser, you can go to the 4cast website (<a href="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/" target="_blank">http://www.oplin.org/4cast/</a>) and click on the orange "radio wave" icon on the right side of the address bar. In Internet Explorer 7, click on the same icon to view or subscribe to the 4cast RSS feed.</li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><strong>E-mail.</strong> You can have the OPLIN 4cast delivered via e-mail (a'la OPLINlist and OPLINtech) by subscribing to the 4cast mailing list at <a href="http://lists.oplin.org/mailman/listinfo/OPLIN4cast" target="_blank">http://lists.oplin.org/<wbr>mailman/listinfo/OPLIN4cast</a>.</li>
</ul> </span> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="text-align:center;font-family:'Century Gothic',sans-serif;border-top:0px solid rgb(255,255,255);background-color:#2c4587;color:#fff" valign="top" width="760">© 2018 Ohio Public Library Information Network<br> <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/oplin" title="Find us on Slideshare" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/themes/unlimited/assets/images/slideshare3.png" alt="Find us on Slideshare"></a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/oplin.org" title="Find us on Facebook" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/themes/unlimited/assets/images/facebook_0.png" alt="Find us on Facebook"></a> <a href="https://plus.google.com/107751358238995507967" title="Find us on Google+" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/themes/unlimited/assets/images/google+.png" alt="Find us on Google+"></a> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/oplin" title="Find us on Twitter" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/themes/unlimited/assets/images/twitter_0.png" alt="Find us on Twitter"></a> </td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
</div>