Editor:
Like many of your readers I live in the countryside, out of reach of modern broadband and barely in range of cellular service. I, for one, would like to see that situation improved.
The problem is that the population and income densities where I live are just too low for the major telecom companies to make money. They’re too big and inefficient.
But as far as broadband goes, there is a cottage industry of tiny companies who boldly go where no telecom has gone before, into these low density rural areas.
They are called WISPs, for Wireless Internet Service Providers. But the WISPs lack the funds to build out a network that reaches into all the nooks and crannies of southern Ohio. So, most of our citizens continue to go unserved.
Now there may be some glimmer of hope. The Obama administration has promised millions of dollars to bring broadband to rural America, knowing as they do that economic development can be stimulated by such an investment.
There is a scramble going on to prepare proposals to use that money throughout Ohio.
Gov. Strickland has made it clear he does not wish to see Ohio come to the table with competing proposals. He wants one fully integrated and collaborative approach pitched to the federal government.
But there is a risk for southern Ohio in the way the proposal may be taking shape. If the final proposal favors a top down approach, the investment may only get broadband as far as hospitals, industrial parks and such.
Rural residents could see nothing for all the investment their tax dollars have made.
The proposal must also look at the problem from the bottom up. This is exactly what several WISPs are doing. The Ohio Appalachian Broadband Coalition, a coalition of WISPs all operating in southern Ohio, has put together a proposal which desperately needs to be included in the Ohio proposal. The Appalachian Ohio Broadband Plan has a number of features to recommend it.
First, it will cover 33 southern Ohio counties with a goal of reaching every citizen in those counties.
Second, it relies heavily on existing infrastructure such as towers and water tanks, thereby lowering the costs to build.
Third, because it does use existing infrastructure elements, the coalition can begin signing up customers within two weeks of receiving funding.
The administration has stressed that it is looking for “shovel ready” projects. If that doesn’t qualify I don’t know what does.
So if you want to see broadband deployed effectively in southern Ohio, I urge you to contact your congressional representative (Jean Schmidt, Charles Wilson or Zack Space), your state representative and Gov. Strickland’s office.
Urge them to look carefully at the Appalachian Ohio Broadband Plan and demand that it be a part of the collaborative Ohio proposal.
Otherwise, be ready to be left behind on broadband access for maybe another decade or two. This may be our one and only shot at getting this right. Let’s not miss it.
James Chalker
Blue Creek, Ohio
I am amazed at how many Ohioans I meet who do not take advantage of the internet.
Recently I overheard a middle-aged customer at the Post Office talking with the Post Mistress about e-mail. He had never used it and didn’t know what it was.
The topic had come up because the Postal customer had received a notice with their trash removal bill that they could get a discount if they went paperless for bill payment.
This article ( http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2009/06/154000_more_ohioans_have_acces.html ) claims that about 25 percent of people in Ohio have no Internet connection at all (meaning that they have no interest or knowledge or are too poor to connect with at least a dial-up connection).
How can Ohio successfully meet the future with an attitude of indifference to such technology? The answer: we can’t. Neglecting to take full advantage of it will doom us to a fate of backwards poverty, in my opinion, which would be very sad indeed, especially given Ohio’s proud and successful history of innovation, resourcefulness, and productivity.
Tod Mills
Ashland, OH