"We felt it important to have broadband as a utility -- almost like water and power and everything else."
The Scottsburg, Indiana business owner quoted by the Courier-Journal’s tireless columnist Dale Moss is one of 600 subscribers to the town’s high-speed wireless Internet service, installed at a cost of $385,000.
Why has tiny Scottsburg, with a population of 6,000, chosen to act? According to Mayor Bill Graham, “The one thing I do know is change is coming so quickly."
Town spins a wireless Web so businesses won't escape, by Dale Moss
There is no question that we could not operate our business without high-speed Internet access. Even in the densely populated areas of New Albany, getting broadband service was an iffy thing. We use SBC at home and in the store, but while we were planning the store, SBC could not even answer the question of whether broadband was available on our street.
ReplyDeleteThat tells me that there are still wide pockets where broadband is unavailable, even where the rollout cost would be negligible.
Patrons from points west of downtown tell me they not only can't get broadband, but they can't rely on their dial-up service to even connect. In Georgetown, one business has the option of uploading all of its work product, which would save them thousands of dollars a year. But only with broadband. Can Georgetown afford to lose that business?
We've toyed with the idea of providing wireless here at the store, and likely would do so in the future. But that's a far cry from enabling a new generation of business enterprises and tele-commuters to make New Albany their homes.
Was hoping this article would appear here today and shake the Clark/Floyd government tree. We as citizens do want the choice to have the same chances as the Scott County residents on this issue. As a side note, Scottsburg has its own Electric Utility as well, not that there is anything wrong with that...
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