FCC pays $340k/year to keep 100's of empty Alaska buildings wired for internet (propublica.org)

This sounds like less of a "let's get mad at the FCC!" situation, but more of a "let's get mad at companies defrauding the US Government" situation.

Looks like they all use Starlink and no one uses the FCC-subsidized fiber.

Starlink is nice, but I'd still want the option to switch to an alternate provider if Starlink suddenly raises their prices or otherwise becomes uncompetitive for some reason. I guess they do have cell service out there, though.

I wonder how the copper PSTN is out there, or if it's totally replaced by that fiber.

We should play whack-a-mole with fraud.

We should ALSO reduce the federal budget to a trickle and return the money to where it belongs, the taxpayer.

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I'm a little confused about why there is an ongoing fee... unless someone didn't pay for the fibre pull upfront.

As an interesting side note, this island gets a couple flights a week by an Alaska Airlines 737. That is impressive if the population is really down to a couple dozen.

Edit: like the Internet access, the flights are heavily subsidized by the US taxpayer