Hey – if you don’t have access to decent internet, call the FCC at 888-225-5322 and select option 4.
(or fill out this form : https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360001440131)
The FCC is theoretically once again trying to get a handle on broadband accessibility because in a capitalist world you can’t rely on for-profit companies reaching people who aren’t going to make them a profit.
Now, this isn’t the biggest inequity in the world, but it’s a highly invisible one. Even before the pandemic tightened its grip around our ability to be with one another, accessibility to high-speed (or any speed) internet was taking its toll on our society, education, art because every aspect of our “civilization” is now plugged in so if you can’t get plugged in, you’re rapidly losing place in “civilization”. And whether it’s Netflix claiming THEY are the new model for film being made accessible to rural communities as their movie theatres close or apps designed for homeless people that can’t run without high end phones and wi-fi, or an emergency grant application reliant on people having the latest browser and a high speed connection – somehow the haves continue to be completely blind not just to the have-nots, but to what it is that they don’t have.
But don’t worry – if your internet is out, please contact us on our website at www dot…
The internet’s not a luxury anymore. As we’ve toured across the country we’ve become acutely aware on our own reliance on high speed internet for keeping in touch and updating our business and as things like our calendars and email and backups became more and more cloud-based, the dry patches of low-speed to no-speed internet in rural (and not-so rural) areas has become more and more problematic. It’s merely inconvenient for us… we’ll soon drive out of a county where broadband rollout has never come… but the people that Live there? They’ve been left behind because AT&T and Comcast & Verizon don’t think they’re worth the effort.
Streaming music and dropping the new album? That’s fine for all of us with our high-speed connections and limitless data plans – but how does that reach the inner city kids that don’t have access to the former outside of the public library and can’t afford the latter? The pandemic has come and suddenly vast swaths of the arts community vanish because they don’t have the facility and capacity to stream… not just the money and the tools – but geographically unable to have the access to the thing that’s keep the entire rest of the world knit together.
In any case – even though the announcement’s been made online with a form that specifies “Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari (latest two versions) and Microsoft Edge (latest version only)” (sorry to anyone limited to older Macs or the built-in default browser on their Android phone) the FCC is surveying America because they think there might be a problem! And at least they’ve got a phone number. So if you don’t have access to decent internet, call the FCC at 888-225-5322 and select option 4.
(or fill out this form : https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=360001440131)
Because it sucks to be left behind.
