Will they ever return to "the office"?

[Oaktree]

We had unlimited internet anyway, so it didn't matter.


People in groups tend to goof off. They don't mean to. They don't intend to. But they do. For example, after surviving 5 rounds of Reduction In Force (permanent let-goes) of 2/3 of the workforce at my employer, we were still putting out the same product. Some of that was due to technology, but most of it was people were not working at their capacity. Everyone took on more responsibilities and still had time for coffee breaks. People almost never work to their maximum potential for extended periods.

I get what you're saying, but as I mentioned upthread, if people tend to goof off when they're at the office, it seems they'd be even more likely to when no one's watching, and they're at home with plenty of personal distractions.

As far as home internet, that may be true, but they're still expecting you to use something you're paying for personally for their business needs. I suppose if you itemize, you could find a way to partially deduct some of the cost, but determining (and proving) what percentage is business vs personal could be a challenge. The IRS is picky enough re: home offices when you own the business.

 

[CADplans]

I live in what we considered "rural" 40 years ago,,
Our property has LOTS more neighbors,, now,,
Even now, the nearest grocery store is ten miles away.
That distance includes ANY place to spend $$$,, gas station, anything,,

There is ONE SURE sign that we will not be rural for long,,

Last year, the electric company brought fiber optic internet to our home.
We upgraded from DSL service about six months ago,,

Well,, the proof of more civilization moving near me is,,
a service technician for the local landline company told me that we could switch to THEIR high speed fiber optic service in less than a year!!

TWO competing fiber optic companies,,
those companies must be POSITIVE that there will be a LOT MORE CUSTOMERS,,, SOON!!
(SOMEONE needs to pay for all of that infrastructure upgrade,,,)

I guess it is time to look for property that is only served with DSL (or maybe "dialup") in 2024, and beyond,,

 

[Oaktree]

TWO competing fiber optic companies,,
those companies must be POSITIVE that there will be a LOT MORE CUSTOMERS,,, SOON!!
(SOMEONE needs to pay for all of that infrastructure upgrade,,,)

Yeah, the taxpayers. There are federal grants for expanding broadband into rural areas. That's how we got cable here in the early teens. Interestingly, even though the cable company and the phone company both ran fiber down my road, the "last mile" for either one is still copper! I asked the cable tech a while back while he was doing something on one of the poles why it was done that way. Got kind of a non-answer.

 

[newbury]

<snip>

Last year, the electric company brought fiber optic internet to our home.
We upgraded from DSL service about six months ago,,

Well,, the proof of more civilization moving near me is,,
a service technician for the local landline company told me that we could switch to THEIR high speed fiber optic service in less than a year!!

TWO competing fiber optic companies,,
those companies must be POSITIVE that there will be a LOT MORE CUSTOMERS,,, SOON!!
(SOMEONE needs to pay for all of that infrastructure upgrade,,,)

I guess it is time to look for property that is only served with DSL (or maybe "dialup") in 2024, and beyond,,

I think that's all due to Federal grants. Same thing is happening in Northeast Mississippi -
The telephone company has been stringing fiber, MOSTLY buried for since June 2019. Last I talked to them, summer 2021, it was going to take them 3 or 4 more years to get to me. They are charging:

1 GIG // $79.95
100 Mbps // $49.95

The power company started later, but they are stringing it on poles and expect to get to me by next fall according to the rep I talked to a month ago. They are charging :
Residential Packages

• 100 MBPS - $54.90/month
• 1 GBPS - $84.90/month

It's a total mess, running the same service past the same houses twice.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Most Homeowners can't find and reset a GFCI Outlet, not sure how they will make it in the country. Especially with limited internet service.

Good point. I still remember the struggle of the first few years after I bought my first acreage. It was like climbing out of a deep hole to shed all the city services and move toward self-reliance, and I grew up on a farm. Of course, I got up every week day and went to work, which maybe is not necessary in this century. More time at home means more time to figure out why there is no water at 6 AM.

As for internet service, the infrastructure bill included big bucks for rural broadband, plus Skynet is coming along. I already have a friend who uses Skynet. They already ran fiber to my place, which astonished me. They made a deal to string fiber on power poles. I'm the last house on the power line, but after they wired my place they set some poles and kept right on going.

Fifty years ago I was fortunate enough to have dinner with Frank Herbert. One of the things he said was that he saw us moving toward a post-industrial society with a move toward cottage industry. In the intellectual industry, that has been a blinding flash over the last two years. With robots taking over production work, I don't know what will happen with that.

 

[arizona98tj]

Just because you have high-speed internet being installed, I wouldn't say that's a guarantee that more customers are moving in down the road.

I live in the woods in northern Minnesota and have the option of 250Mbps, 1Gbps, 2Gbps, 6Gbps, or 10Gbps connectivity from my communications co-op....and that is fiber optic cable to the modem in my basement, not copper the last xx miles to my house. It is all buried underground so ice & blizzards, wind storms, falling trees, etc. don't take out my service. That means you don't need lots of linemen, trucks, equipment, etc. to put it all back together throughout the year. Putting wires on poles and hoping for the best from mother nature isn't always a good solution.

Some time ago, the co-op I have ownership in decided to move forward with high-speed connectivity, among other things. I'm sure they took advantage of grants from the government when available. If they didn't, we'd be voting new members in to sit on the board of directors. After all, it's a business but we aren't in it to make a profit, just to provide reliable and cost-effective service to ourselves.

 

[Oaktree]

Some time ago, the co-op I have ownership in decided to stop move forward with high-speed connectivity, among other things. I'm sure they took advantage of grants from the government when available.

Nice option if you have it available. Unfortunately, nothing like that exists here. Telco where my mother lives ran gigabit fiber to all customers, but that company doesn't do business where I live.

BTW, we did a road trip to the upper midwest this past summer, spent a couple days in Bemidji, nice country there!!

 

[riptides]

I live in what we considered "rural" 40 years ago,,
Our property has LOTS more neighbors,, now,,
Even now, the nearest grocery store is ten miles away.
That distance includes ANY place to spend $$$,, gas station, anything,,

There is ONE SURE sign that we will not be rural for long,,

Last year, the electric company brought fiber optic internet to our home.
We upgraded from DSL service about six months ago,,

Well,, the proof of more civilization moving near me is,,
a service technician for the local landline company told me that we could switch to THEIR high speed fiber optic service in less than a year!!

TWO competing fiber optic companies,,
those companies must be POSITIVE that there will be a LOT MORE CUSTOMERS,,, SOON!!
(SOMEONE needs to pay for all of that infrastructure upgrade,,,)

I guess it is time to look for property that is only served with DSL (or maybe "dialup") in 2024, and beyond,,

Your area is funded by some serious research dollars at the Hokie nation.

Growths been coming your way for at least a decade if not more.

I was almost there 20 years ago, but a job got yanked out from under me at the last minute.

 

[CADplans]

Your area is funded by some serious research dollars at the Hokie nation.

Growths been coming your way for at least a decade if not more.

I was almost there 20 years ago, but a job got yanked out from under me at the last minute.

Yes, I agree we do have some serious $,$$$,$$$,$$$ being spent near where I live, because we are close to VT.
There is a turn off of Rt 311 on to Rt 785, near where I live,,

VA-311 · Virginia

Virginia

www.google.com

Well, the Hokie football fans that know this route use this as a "shortcut" to Blacksburg on football game days.
(That is 6 or 8 days a year)
They go this way, because football traffic slows down I81 interstate to a crawl on game day.
They had so much political pull, they had the intersection changed, because they did not like the narrow 2 lane road.

800 feet of straight up solid rock on the north side of Rt 311 was moved back, about 50 to 75 feet.
The road had extra lanes added,, (there are no turn lanes anywhere else on Rt 311, like this)
The south side of Rt 311 was opened up also,, just to make turning onto Rt 785 easier,,

The excavation went on for months,,
A friend that traveled that road to get to work asked me if I knew what was going on,,
I told him that Dollar General was making room, to build a new store!!
He believed me, and told ALL of his neighbors,,
BOY, was he upset when he found out there was no new store coming!!

 

[arizona98tj]

BTW, we did a road trip to the upper midwest this past summer, spent a couple days in Bemidji, nice country there!!

If you make it up here again, stop by and I'll give you the guest password for the WiFi. We like it up here. Grew up here as a kid and moved back to retire after being gone for too long.