Don't need broadband? Think again as providers look to educate consumers

By Samantha Bookman | Fierce Telecom

Published: October 28, 2011

A couple of years ago I was having dinner with my uncle during a stopover in San Francisco. The conversation, as it is wont to do, turned eventually to the Internet, specifically to Facebook, which my uncle had joined but was not posting to very much. Why? I asked.

"Because it takes too long to load," he replied. "I have dialup."

I found this pretty amazing, considering he lives close enough to the city to get high-speed Internet, so I quizzed him a bit more about his reasons for staying with a dialup service. He had fairly sound ones: the price was very affordable; he wasn't locked into a service contract--important because his carpentry work often took him out of town for weeks at a time; the service was reliable; and he didn't see much use for Internet access beyond checking his email.

That conversation took place just as the Obama administration's broadband stimulus effort was gearing up, an initiative that now is in full swing, with broadband rolling out--at various speeds--well beyond urban areas and into rural ones. So I was very interested to see the results of a recent study that found that not only did 28 percent of Minnesota residents not subscribe to a broadband service, a significant portion of them weren't that interested in subscribing: 29 percent of those without broadband said there wasn't enough Internet content worth viewing.

Only 8 percent of the survey participants said that they didn't have access to broadband, so in the parts of Minnesota surveyed, which included rural areas, broadband access was not the biggest issue.

Minnesota wasn't the only state surveyed as part of an effort by Connected Nation. In South Carolina--where a battle for municipal broadband regulation was fought recently--around 43 percent of residents do not subscribe to broadband. Again, only 8 percent said broadband was not available to them.

Read more.

Broadband Expansion Going Nowhere Fast

South Carolina Still Lags Behind in High-Speed Digital Access

BY COREY HUTCHINS | freetimes

In October 2009, the state Budget and Control Board quietly approved a $143 million contract that effectively leased out 95 percent of the state’s broadcast bandwidth — owned by the public for decades — to two private telecommunications companies for the next 30 years.

Those companies — Washington-based Clearwire and Virginia-based DigitalBridge — were expected to build out connectivity to rural and underserved areas of the state.

Nearly two years later, the strategy for expanding broadband access in the Palmetto State appears static.

To read more click here.

SC gets millions to get more people online

From WPDE-TV - Online:

South Carolina will receive about $2.3 million to get more people online and at higher speeds.

Link to WDPE-TV article

ESRI's BroadbandStat Puts Interactive Maps Online

From an ESRI press release:

Four States Inaugurate Maps Showing Detailed Broadband Coverage

Redlands, California—The states of Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, and South Carolina are now providing easy-to-use maps that show in detail each state's broadband coverage. The interactive, online maps are made possible by BroadbandStat, an application based on ESRI geographic information system (GIS) technology, and will help the states plan and improve high-speed Internet access for their residents and businesses.

Press Release link

Connected Nation Launches New App for Broadband Mapping in Four States

From Broadband For America's blog:

Connected Nation announced a multi-state launch of a new interactive broadband mapping application in Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada and South Carolina. The maps, which are now accessible through the Connect Michigan www.connectmi.org; Connect Minnesota www.connectmn.org; Connect Nevada www.connectnv; and Connect South Carolina www.connectsc.org websites give local residents a place to find providers at their address, check their current Internet speeds, request broadband service in their area and provide feedback on the initiatives.

Link to story

SC gets $1.7 Million Telecommunications grant

From WMBF-TV:

COLUMBIA, SC - South Carolina received a match grant of approximately $1.7 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to support a comprehensive broadband mapping and planning initiative through the Connect South Carolina program.

Link to story here.