Thanks to Kevin McCoy in Grand Rapids for sending me the heads up on the article on small town FTTH in Ars Technica. Paul Bunyan, a provider around Bemidji and surrounding areas, features highly in the article for their efforts to bring FTTH to their customers. According to the article, “Bunyan has currently wired 30 percent of users in its 4,500 mile service territory with fiber connections that can offer up to 40Mbps symmetric connections. The goal is to make the entire network, even the truly rural bits, fiber-only within the next decade.” They list the cost at $36.95/month for a 1Mbps connection and call it expensive.
I think it was a nice nod to what some of the local providers are doing in rural areas and how the good work has made a difference in the community. They talked about a business in Becida, Minnesota (Northwoods DNA) that that provides DNA sequencing and genotyping services globally. It’s a job that requires broadband.
My favorite excerpt from the article relates to rural broadband more generally. I think it, juxtaposed with the example of businesses such as Northwoods DNA, is a good reminder to policy and decision makers:
David Chaffee, who edits the journal, says that he has “been disturbed by some of the attitudes exhibited towards our rural communities by people that should know better.” One common attitude: rural residents may need broadband, but they surely don’t need (or expect) good service. As Chaffee notes, this short-sighted attitude means five or ten years from now, rural residents with their slow broadband connections will face the same connection issues that dial-up users do today.
I agree I find the attitude towards rural communities by people who should know better very disturbing. With today’s use of the Internet for business, education, commerce, government services, and just about anything else, why wouldn’t a rural community need and expect fast, affordable broadband access? Good grief. This is especially important in rural communities where we need to access services that may be far away, not available in our community, or can save time and travel by being delivered on line.
Sometimes I think broadband is a convenience in a metro areas – but a necessity in a rural area because of the distance involved in doing so many things.