Telecom Giants Drag Their Feet on Broadband for the Whole Country

[Commentary] “Can you stream me now?" If the answer is no, you're probably going to be looking at the spinning wheel of death on your laptop for a very long time.

After making a big, bold promise to wire every corner of America, the telecom giants are running away from their vow to provide nationwide broadband service by 2020. Now, instead of spending that war chest digging up streets and laying fiber cable, the cable and telephone companies have invested in a massive and very successful lobbying push. They are persuading state legislatures and regulatory boards to quietly adopt new rules -- rules written by the telecommunications companies -- to eliminate their legal obligations to provide broadband service nationwide and replace landlines with wireless.

This abrupt change in plans will leave vast areas of the country with poor service, slow telecommunications and higher bills. The federal government's official broadband map shows vast areas of America still have little or no service, and many areas will never get it under the current plan.