One doesn’t have to look too far to see the Digital Divide … it exist right here in New Hampshire, USA. The effects can be profound. Lack of high speed infrastructure impacts research, distance learning, business development and a myriad of other benefits that the Internet can provide to needy rural communities. All one needs to do is travel shy 1 hour north to get a glimpse of the Internet Dirt Road. High speed Internet is not an option for many communities … it just doesn’t exist. And carriers will not support it. Rural America was not “electrified” nor “wired for phones” because of the “free market”. In the past, if utilities wanted to do business they had to serve the whole state. What happened?
Perhaps the AWS-3 auctions coming next year might be a solution (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/2008-12-01-free-broadband_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip) to take this country from the 15th most connected country to the 14th? –>
http://www.informationweek.com/news/services/data/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207801621
Note from this article the USA pays far more for Internet than the superior services offered in Europe and Asia.
1 comment
Andrew Kun says:
December 3, 2008 at 5:31 pm (UTC -4)
Very true. In the work Project54 does with police agencies across NH we see the issue of poor cell phone coverage all too well. In some parts of the state (the more populous ones) agencies can rely on commercial carriers for data services, but this is certainly not the case in some other parts of the state.
Andrew Kun