第2899期:Internet access in rural areas

Because our employees are experiencing, you know, 20 to 25 percent a day in downtime, due to the internet speed.每天有20%到25%的时间，我们的员工因为网速慢而停工。They're not, you know, being able to effectively do their work as efficiently as possible. We have been waiting for a year now to have fiber brought to us.他们没办法尽可能高效地开展工作。我们已经等了一年，就等着光纤接入。They just say that we're not within their territory and they don't have to provide us service.他们只是说我们不在他们的辖区内，他们不必为我们提供服务。If it's an issue of giving service that's necessary for public safety, then there's a very strong social argument or public argument.如果提供网络事关公众安全，肯定会有强烈的公众要求或社会要求。So, hospitals, the police, homeland defense, perhaps other emergency services that are provided in the area.这个区域的医院、警察、国土安全部和其他应急服务机构肯定都有网络。It's a little bit more difficult to make an argument that then you also need to subsidize internet service to an individual household.但是如果说每家每户都要能联网，那就很困难了。The total package will probably be around 5,000 dollars by the time it's brought to us, installed, and all the fiber and things are done within the building.联网这一整套服务下来可能要花费5000美元左右，从安装、光纤到建筑内部的设置。I want to say packages are going to be around the 80 to 100 dollar range, depending on what speed you get.等设备运到我们这里、安装完毕，并且楼内所有光纤等设施都铺设完毕后，总费用大概在5000美元左右。We will be able to get up to, I want to say, 100 megabits per second or faster.这样我们就能用上100M的网，甚至更快的。Senator Chuck Grassley, we emailed him with just one time.我们给参议员查克·格雷斯利发过一次邮件。I told him about our dream of pursuing, buying this farm property, building a new home out here,我告诉他我们一直追求的梦想，就是买下这个农场，在这里建一个新家，wanting to work from home but was not able to because the internet provider at that point did not have high speed.渴望在家工作却未能如愿，因为当时的网络供应商没有高速宽带。It will happen, I'm just not sure when. But he said this Connect America funding was made available to internet providers through all of Iowa.我们肯定能用上高速网络，就是不知道什么时候。但他说爱荷华州的每个互联网供应商都使用“连接美国基金”。If we plowed fiber to every one of these, you're probably talking several hundred thousand dollars.如果要在每家每户铺设光纤，可能会花费几十万美元。It could be in the million dollars in some of these exchanges just to serve two, three, four or five customers.有时候给两到五个客户提供服务，费用就可能高达数百万美元。At the end of the day, the customers are going to be paying for that in one way or another. It may be through property tax or it may be through service subscription.归根结底，客户无论如何都得为此买单。可能是通过房产税，也可能是通过服务订阅。Now, if it's only relatively high income people who are the subscribers, they're the ones who are then being subsidized by the people who don't buy the service, who are paying through their property tax.如果现在只有高收入人群订阅网络服务，这些人实际上是在接受那些不购买该服务的人的房产税补贴。We currently use the CAF funding, Connect America funds. We've been in that program for several years, been very active in it.我们目前使用CAF资金，我们参与那个项目已有数年之久，一直非常积极地投入其中。And it helps us fund projects like this. Had we not had that funding, I'm not sure we would have been able to reach out and serve all these rural customers. 这帮助我们为类似的项目提供资金。如果没有那笔资金，我不确定我们是否能够接触并服务所有这些农村客户。