NTIA rewrites #BEAD rules, scrapping fiber preference and restarting state broadband plans. wireless and satellite ISPs now eligible. Industry fears delays and legal fights. #Broadband #DigitalDivide https://washingtonhorizon.com/ntia-rewrites-bead-rules-the-broadband-groundhog-day-no-one-asked-for/

»The plan for nationwide #fiberinternet might be upended for #Starlink: What’s really happening with #BEAD.« https://www.theverge.com/news/675502/bead-program-fiber-internet-paused?eicker.news #tech #media #news

#NPR #1A #Broadband #RuralAmerica #TFGMusk #Starlink #BEAD

The part that caught my ear is the guy in charge (Lutnick) of putting this Broadband Equity Access deployment program forward (most states are shovel ready) might not do that or cut it somehow, leaving wired and fiber internet broadband out for many people.

So it'll cost more and be more expensive for most people.

But they could use Starlink, right?

Who does that benefit?

Hmmm. Wanna bet Mush has met with Lutnick?

https://www.npr.org/2017/07/12/536890695/why-the-internet-fast-lane-has-bypassed-rural-america

This is really good news. Hopefully it will assist in getting fiber to my home. The P2P wireless ISP isn't cutting it. I discovered recently that their base station has only a 1 hour power supply when there is a blackout.

https://www.ksnblocal4.com/2025/04/01/nebraska-broadband-office-names-approved-applicants-broadband-equity-access-program/

#bead #nebraska #broadband

"In sum, while BEAD was not as ambitious as a Green New Deal–style program, which would enlist an entirely public and unionized workforce, it was better than a garden-variety neoliberal public-private partnership with zero regard for labor standards.

Fiber-optic systems handle growing bandwidth demands through equipment upgrades, which require long-term maintenance crews — meaning stable employment and durable internet for these communities for decades to come. Instead of this promising vision, rural Americans now face the prospect of receiving inferior internet service while the potential for sustainable union employment evaporates in favor of satellite technology that requires minimal ongoing workforce investment in their communities.

By the time Biden left office, his administration had just finished approving state proposals, setting the stage for implementation. So long, BEAD. We hardly knew ye.

The promise of laying fiber-optic cable was that it would require workers on the ground everywhere, creating jobs throughout rural America. By contrast, Starlink satellites are made in two locations in Washington and Texas, launched from Cape Canaveral, and managed remotely from SpaceX headquarters — bypassing any meaningful job creation in the communities that stood most to benefit."

https://jacobin.com/2025/03/musk-starlink-rural-internet-jobs

#USA #Musk #StarLink #Broadband #RuralAmerica #DigitalDivide #Unions #BEAD

Public Broadband Under Siege: Corporate Interests Threaten Rural America's Digital Future https://mikepaul.com/public-broadband-under-siege-corporate-interests-threaten-rural-americas-digital-future/ #Bead, #Broadband, #Doge, #Musk, #PublicBroadband

Snowflake suncatcher

#suncatsher #bead #sun #snow #snowflake

For #mARTch and #makersMARTch and #ArtYear theme #bead here's an artwork I created back in April 2016.

Steampunk suncatcher

#suncatsher #bead #sun #steampunk

Steampunk suncatcher

#suncatsher #bead #sun #steampunk

#bead : a little perforated ball, to be strung on a thread, and worn for ornament

- French: compte

- German: die Perle

- Italian: conto

- Portuguese: missanga

- Spanish: cuenta

------------

See previous words @ https://wordofthehour.org/r/past

Grey felted star boots ⭐

#boots #beading #bead #tiny #sewing
#indigenous #handmade

Beaded fur butterfly boots 🏵️

#Indigenous #flower #beading #sewing #native #tiny #flowers #winter #bead

Brown embroidered boots ✨

#mukluk #beading #bead #tiny #sewing #native #embroidery

Three paper clips and four beads add together to make these charming moving models. Small enough to fit inside a greeting card, make one for someone you love! Find out more www.robives.com/project/beadwire⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
#STEAMJunk #maker #mechanism #crank #STEAM #STEM #paperclip #bead

The latest piece off my beading needles…
This beaded bead has the symmetry of a soccer ball and contains 810 seed beads. It measures 3 cm in diameter.
It has 32 holes, and it’s very hollow.
There’s only one and you can find it in my Etsy shop, gwenbeads. #bead #mathart #beadweaving

“We have never had a situation where the leading shareholder of a communications company has both a position – both in terms of influencing the president, but also having an assignment to drive efficiency in government – with so many government contracts,” said Blair Levin, a telecommunications industry analyst with New Street Research and the Brookings Institution. “That is an extraordinary situation. That is unprecedented.”

Musk has long been a critic of the 🔸Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program🔸( #BEAD ) ,
👉which provides nearly $42.5 billion through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill
to expand high-speed internet access in rural areas

-- but his Starlink satellite internet service has been shut out of that funding after government agencies determined it was too slow to qualify

Musk raged on X:
"the companies that lobbied for this massive earmark (not us) thought they would win,
but instead were outperformed by Starlink,
so now they’re changing the rules to prevent SpaceX from competing.”

Musk described the program as “an outrageous waste of taxpayer money" in June,
and he endorsed Trump a month later and became an influential adviser
after pouring hundreds of millions into his campaign,
-- and soon the president-elect was echoing his language on rural broadband.

Trump's newly named FCC chair Brendan Carr has also argued that subsidizing Starlink terminals instead of fiber optic broadband was a better use of public funding,
-- and incoming Senate telecommunications committee chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) sent a letter last week to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration administrator complaining about waste in the BEAD program.

Congress has authorized BEAD funding,
but Levin suggested that Trump could order that money to be withheld indefinitely,
-- as Musk and Ramaswamy argued he should do in a Wall Street Journal op-ed,
⚠️although that would violate the 1974 Impoundment Control Act
– the law that the former president violated in his first term ultimately resulted in his first impeachment.

“While there are other technology options for high-speed connectivity, the most reliable, efficient and future-proof solution is fiber optic technology to the home or business,” said Tom Dailey, head of regulatory and government affairs at Brightspeed, an internet service provider competing for BEAD funds.

“Satellite broadband is a costly option that does not provide the same level of reliability or speed that fiber optic technology provides."

https://www.rawstory.com/unprecedented-2670238566/