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Re:A quarter of Alabamians live in homes without internet ac... by uzzgx on Saturday December 28, 2019 @08:00AM (#21898655)
>But you get a discount on electric installation if you sign up for your new service online.

That should be illegal. It's discrimination for a basic service.

>Internet service isn't just entertainment: It is communication, banking, and lots of very basic things folks need in life.

You can still walk into the bank. Checking your account from home is cool, but hardly a vital thing.

>Many jobs require internet access to apply: Fewer and fewer take any sort of paper applications and not everywhere has kiosks to apply and test at (low paying jobs, at least). Heck, game disks are getting rarer, so you sometimes need to be online to use a PC game. Lots of research for school papers is done online.

I doubt they can pull this shit off in a place where 25% of people have no access to the Internet. Otherwise they wouldn't find applicants.

>Also, communication. Few folks send snail mail letters anymore due to email. Chat programs work well too.

A bummer. Hardly a "human rights" issue.

Re:A quarter of Alabamians live in homes without internet ac... by thebooktocome on Saturday December 28, 2019 @08:19AM (#21898729)
> You can still walk into the bank. Checking your account from home is cool, but hardly a vital thing.

What are you talking about? A lot of Alabama (and the US generally) is unbanked specifically because there's no bank in walking distance.

Re:A quarter of Alabamians live in homes without internet ac... by sokoloff on Saturday December 28, 2019 @08:32AM (#21898782)
> That should be illegal. It's discrimination for a basic service.

There are all kinds of things where there's a service fee tacked on for more expensive or convenient ways of accessing city or public services. I can apply for parking permit or pay parking tickets for free if I walk to the parking office, or for the cost of a stamp, envelope, and a check if I mail it, or for a 2.75% (minimum $1.50) convenience charge if I use a credit card.

Am I being discriminated against without even realizing it?

Re:A quarter of Alabamians live in homes without internet ac... by scarface74 on Saturday December 28, 2019 @08:22AM (#21898746)
That should be illegal. It's discrimination for a basic service.

So instead of giving a discount for signing up online, they should charge everyone the same price which would be the non discounted price - how does that help?

Re:A quarter of Alabamians live in homes without internet ac... by thehoff on Saturday December 28, 2019 @08:25AM (#21898755)
What if they don’t want a job in their area (ie want to move away?