Ads by TechWords

See your link here
Receive the latest technology news and information.
Networking
Computerworld Daily News (First Look and Wrap-Up)
Computerworld Blogs Newsletter
The Weekly Top 10
Cloud Computing
View all newsletters




Privacy Policy
 

ISPs to rural America: Live with dial-up

August 27, 2007 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - You can't get there from here. That old New England saw is an apt metaphor for the state of high-speed rural broadband. While many telecommunications carriers are posting record profits this year, millions of U.S. homes and businesses still have no access to broadband  and that's no coincidence.

The return on equity that Wall Street demands from players in today's largely unregulated telecommunications business all but requires carriers to abandon rural America.

As population density drops outside of metropolitan areas, it's impossible for telecommunications companies or cable service providers to justify the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars per mile it can cost to bring fiber to every rural community, let alone every home. The result: Today, just 17% of rural U.S. households subscribe to broadband service, according to the Government Accountability Office. And a recent report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says the U.S. dropped from fourth in the world in broadband penetration in 2001 to 15th place in 2006.

Communications infrastructure is widely seen as the biggest driver of economic growth, yet 21% of Americans  the nearly 60 million people who live in rural areas  are often underserved.

Kim Rossey is one of them. Soon after moving to Gilsum, N.H. (population 811), Rossey learned that he couldn't get broadband to support his Web programming business, TooCoolWebs. DSL wasn't available, and the local cable service provider wasn't interested in extending the cabling for its broadband service the three-tenths of a mile required to reach Rossey's house  even if he paid the full $7,000 cost.

Rossey ended up signing a two-year, $450-per-month contract for a T1 line that delivers 1.44Mbit/sec. of bandwidth. He pays 10 times more than the cable provider would have charged and receives one quarter of the bandwidth.

Limited options for high-speed Internet connectivity are stifling bigger rural companies too. Earlier this year, a $1 billion-plus e-commerce business was left scrambling for answers after Verizon announced that it was selling its rural telecommunications business in New England to the much smaller, less well-capitalized FairPoint Communications.

"These guys were freaking out because the only network they've been able to have up there is an [asynchronous transfer mode] network, and it's going away when Verizon leaves," says an analyst who consulted with the company and asked not to be identified. "They may have to move [to another state]."

The Internet is becoming the road to the workplace. The number of U.S. home-office households is expected to grow from 35.7 million today to 38.3 million in 2011, according to IDC. But rural workers without broadband could be shut out of New Economy jobs.



Jump to comments

networking and Internet

Additional Resources

Microsoft
Here are some of the key reasons why you would want to run Unified Access Gateway with DirectAccess.
Microsoft
Review how one energy firm tightened protection and simplified IT work using business-ready security solutions.
Sybase
In this white paper, IDC analyzes the role of next-generation mobile enterprise platforms as organizations seek a more strategic deployment of mobile solutions.

Learn the important issues you must consider before starting your next mobility initiative. Get your mobility white paper from IDC now, compliments of Sybase.

What People Are Saying

White Papers & Webcasts

Death to PST Files
Download Now  

Business Process Framework Demo
Learn about Configurable Business Processes and Calculated Fields. Watch Now!

A Green Architectural Strategy That Puts IT in the Black
Levergage green computing across your data center. Read more now.  

Manager Experience Demo
Go beyond self-service solutions to perform more effectively. Watch Now.

Quantifying the Business Value of VMware View
Learn why you should invest in a centralized virtual desktop.  

Asia-Pacific Enterprise Network Solutions
Learn through this Webcast how your business can achieve reliability, performance and value in hard-to-reach locations within the Asia-Pacific region.

Mainsoft Webcast w/ Forrester Research: Drive SharePoint Adoption in Lotus Notes Shops
How can you drive mainstream user adoption of Microsoft SharePoint when your users rely on Lotus Notes?


IT Jobs