r/pcmasterrace • u/FreeHugs23 • Aug 20 '26

News/Article FCC abolishes gigabit speed goal, suggesting it is unfair to slower technologies | FCC decides 1Gbps is too fast, standard must be “technologically neutral.”

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/fcc-abolishes-gigabit-speed-goal-suggesting-it-is-unfair-to-slower-technologies/
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77

u/Vulpix0r https://pcpartpicker.com/b/sCNPxr Aug 20 '26

How did the country that invented the internet end up like this, it's so sad...

64

u/All_Thread 9800X3D | 5080 | X870E-E | 48GB DDR5 Aug 20 '26

We allowed Comcast and other companies to take over the network and all the lines.

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u/decmcc Aug 20 '26

Ajit Pai was a Verizon lawyer, then the head of the FCC.

Regulatory capture has eroded this country from within

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u/All_Thread 9800X3D | 5080 | X870E-E | 48GB DDR5 Aug 20 '26

I live in a PUD area so I get 70 dollar fiber. It could be like that if we had PUD across the country.

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u/decmcc Aug 20 '26

lol, when I lived in Ireland I paid €27/month for 400mb down and 100mb up, that was 15 years ago.

while some areas will have a decent roll out (maybe someone on your local gov was a former network engineer and saw opportunity), others will be underserved so 5G or satellite can compete.

You would never even consider starlink if you had $30 fiber (even shared fiber), but when the choice is between no Internet or starlink, the price seems a lot better.

then in 5 years when most people stop laying fiber the price goes up. You remember when Uber and grubhub were affordable? that's where starlink is now.

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u/All_Thread 9800X3D | 5080 | X870E-E | 48GB DDR5 Aug 20 '26

I mean half the PUDs in my state are building a fiber network. Over 9k miles built. It's just reinvestvedting back what we put in.

lol

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u/Bigd1979666 PC Master Race Aug 23 '26

That's not bad. Think we pay 50 here in France for 2gbps up and down , tv, and land line with no data caps. I'd never pay more than that and is why I won't move back to the USA. 

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u/SmokePenisEveryday Aug 20 '26

My mother just yesterday was lamenting how she's always having to deal with Comcast despite having lived in 3 different states over the last 20+ years.

Had to explain to her that it was no coincidence and that every place we lived they were the only option. (Outside of Satellite anyways)

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u/Ekgladiator Steambox beta tester Aug 20 '26

Propaganda, piss poor education, greed....

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u/Bigd1979666 PC Master Race Aug 20 '26

 Internet is a decentralized network of computer. As opposite to classical network there is no central nodes, and if one router is down, the information will pass by another route. This is an American invention from the 60's or 70's which was thought as a way to keep the IT infrastructure running in case of nuclear war.

In the late70's France developed a centralized data-network using terminal, and provided these terminal to many citizen, it's the minitel which was basically used a a digital-version of the phone-book, to buy train tickets online or to see pixelated ladies[1]. However, it was a centralized network and not connected to other network which isn't internet at all, but may-be the first consumer-grade data network

In the Early 90's a british CERN engineer , developed a prototype system to exchange easily information over the internet by using hypertext links. Despite his boss saying it's vague but interesting he kept going and created the world-wide-web. The WWW that most of us browse when using internet (Even though internet also support tons of protocols like ftp or usenet) it's the invention that would made internet usable by the general public ...

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u/queen-adreena Linux Aug 20 '26

England’s doing fine thanks.

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u/YourAverageNutcase NixOS, RX 7900 XT, R5 7600X, 32GB DDR5, Lian Li A3 Aug 20 '26

England has a big Reform-shaped problem right now, if not quite as bad as America's GOP

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u/Goonalips Aug 20 '26

Well the Tories and Labour better do something to bring those Reform voters back, or they're going to regret it. The UK is sick of the immigration, and it's the biggest carrot reform has.

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u/Ok-Parfait-9856 5090 Astral|270K+|48GB-8200MTs|Z890 Apex|60TB|HYTE Y70|S90F OLED Aug 20 '26 edited Aug 20 '26

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet

Tbh France and even Norway did more. Leave it to a Brit to take all of the credit for Europe’s success. Most of the r&d is US based.

Also, England is on the same path as the US. The only time Brits won’t admit that is when they’re being compared to the US. But the rot is the same. Second, you need to brush up on your history. Sorry the US makes your little island feel insignificant. I know you long for the days Britain owned half the world but those days are long gone

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u/Cagnazzo82 Aug 20 '26

England did not invent the internet.

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u/WealthyMarmot 7800x3D | RTX 4090 | ASRock B650e Taichi Lite Aug 20 '26 edited Aug 20 '26

Go look up where TCP/IP was invented (i.e. the literal Internet Protocol). Spoiler: it wasn’t in England

edit: whoops responded to the wrong comment

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u/Cagnazzo82 Aug 20 '26

Yes, part of the point I was making.

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u/WealthyMarmot 7800x3D | RTX 4090 | ASRock B650e Taichi Lite Aug 20 '26

Yep meant to respond to the commenter above

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u/queen-adreena Linux Aug 20 '26

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee

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u/WealthyMarmot 7800x3D | RTX 4090 | ASRock B650e Taichi Lite Aug 20 '26

The World Wide Web is not the Internet. It’s a technology stack on top of the Internet.

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u/jelly-sandwich Aug 20 '26

You do realize that the world wide web is not the internet, right?

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u/Ninlilizi_ (She/Her) 5950X, 128GB, RTX4080. | Engine / Graphics dev. Aug 20 '26

I'm stuck on 4G just outside London because I waited a year for OpenReach to install fibre and then when the latest of a dozen missed install dates rolled around they went 'cannot do it'.

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u/Bigd1979666 PC Master Race Aug 20 '26

Don't lots of ISPs enforce bandwidth caps there too? 

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u/esc8pe8rtist Aug 20 '26

If by “fine” you mean arresting people for facebooks posts, sure - totally fine

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u/Stagism Intel 10700k | EVGA 3090 FTW3 | 32GB DDR4 3600 RAM Aug 21 '26

Just straight up corruption

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u/PunishedDemiurge Aug 20 '26

Republicans. This is a purely partisan issue. Republicans on nearly every issue govern as if they are an enemy of the American people. It's not just this, they're also the pro-pollution party, pro-unnecessary war party, anti-worker, anti-infrastructure, anti-journalism, etc.

Every American and every foreigner should hate and actively work to destroy the entirety of the Republican party and its power structure. If you're just a random British bloke, their tariffs are hurting your ability to reach American customers or go on a tourist trip. If you're Ukrainian or an Iranian school girl, you might end up dead due to Republicans.

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u/esc8pe8rtist Aug 20 '26

Stupidity