From Delawareonline.com

December 26, 2009

Delaware’s broadband not quite up to speed

Initiatives under way to expand rural service

By DAN SHORTRIDGE
The News Journal

Ray and Barbara Pettyjohn are stuck in a technological no-man’s land.

They live on a rural road between Georgetown and Millsboro, about a mile each way from the nearest high-speed Internet connection.

So when Ray has to process payroll online for his school bus business, Barbara has to take their laptop into Georgetown to hook up to a wireless access spot.

Local companies offering broadband access “want an arm and a leg and a small fortune to run it down here for us,” Ray Pettyjohn said. “Here we are, in limbo.”

The couple is far from alone. Rural areas run far behind more urban and developed regions of the country in having access to high-speed Internet, which has become less of a luxury and more of a necessity for doing business, taking courses and conducting research — let alone entertainment and idle time-wasting activities.

But two initiatives are hoping to lay the groundwork for changing that state of affairs here.

Delaware’s technology agency was recently awarded a $1.5 million grant to map out the state of broadband access and plan for future expansions, and a project spearheaded by the University of Delaware focusing on Sussex County brought stakeholders together at a workshop over the summer to discuss the state of broadband.

Part of the challenge in discussing high-speed Internet access is that authorities and researchers don’t have a lot of data about where and how it currently exists, said Troy Mix, an assistant policy scientist with UD’s Institute for Public Administration.

“You can kind of talk about all these things in generalities — yeah, there are pockets where there aren’t connections, [but] by and large across the U.S., policymakers don’t have a great picture of where broadband is and isn’t, who’s using it and who isn’t,” said Mix, who helped organize the Sussex Broadband Project to bring groups and agencies together. “It’s tough to address an issue if it’s not really well-defined.”

That effort will start here in Delaware next year, funded by a federal grant awarded last month to create an interactive broadband map, said Michael Hojnicki, chief customer officer for the state Department of Technology and Information.

The final product will include a searchable public database, detailed down to the census block, of where access is available. Internet providers will be responsible for updating the map regularly and keeping it current, Hojnicki said.

The initiative is important to more than just technology enthusiasts or Internet geeks. Broadband access is increasingly important to residents and companies looking to move to an area, Hojnicki and Mix said.

“Broadband access can help drive economic development and recovery,” Hojnicki said.

Mix said the emerging reality is that broadband needs to be considered part of a community’s services, just like roads and other public works.

“You need to add broadband infrastructure to the list with drinking water and wastewater,” he said. “Everything from online banking and booking a trip online, to getting your GED or pursuing higher education, or staying in touch with your grandmother who lives out of state and doing it over a video … you need broadband Internet for most of those applications.”

Brian Parton of Felton is one of those people located outside standard service Internet service areas. He said the low number of houses on his road makes it impractical for Comcast to run cable to the area, and it’s too far for DSL service as well.

He’s tried satellite Internet, but said it can be slower than dial-up access via a phone line, and expensive to boot.

“On average, if I wanted to watch a 30-second video, it takes about 45 minutes to download so I can watch it,” Parton said.

Internet providers say they are expanding to serve as big a market as possible. Comcast has invested more than $100 million since 2001 in its Delaware network, and this year sped up its services to include “wideband” technology in Kent and Sussex counties, said spokeswoman Aimee Metrick.

Part of the money headed to the state, about $470,000, is designated for broadband planning efforts. The state can’t fund broadband expansions itself, Hojnicki said.

“We’re just looking for those ideas that we didn’t think about … ‘OK, we have an area in the state that is unserved or underserved, what can we do?’ ” he said.

OK, rather then using 1.5 million to DISCUSS it, I could use a 10K grant to actually get the cable to  my house and those of my neighbours – many of whom have children who could really use it for school and such.

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