Dial-up Internet is just so 1995.
Napster downloads songs at the speed of ice cream melting on a winter day. E-mails load as slow as snail-mail.
A group of technology-savvy people hopes to put such Internet woes to an end for Nelson County by conducting a survey that will determine how broadband services could benefit the county. Broadband Internet connections are always on and have a capability of sending and receiving at least 200 kilobits per second. In comparison, dial-up connections send and receive 56 or fewer kilobits per second.
The survey will "figure out what broadband is, where it is, who's using it, where it isn't, who wants it where it isn't, and what they're willing to pay for it," said Sue Friedman, director of regional business assistance at the Thomas Jefferson Partnership for Economic Development. The Nelson County survey and a similar one in Elkton, a Rockingham County town with a population of about 2,000, will serve as pilot studies for a potential larger survey in Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. "The scope of the whole project is much bigger than just the two communities that they're doing right now," said Karen Jackson, vice president for broadband programs at Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology, which is coordinating the survey.
Nelson County coordinators plan to mail out as many copies as they can with a $5,000 grant from the Nelson County Economic Development Authority and map the responses to share with broadband services. "So we get a visual interpretation of where broadband is and where it isn't," Friedman said.
Many of Nelson's residents lack access to broadband and even cable television. While Adelphia provides cable television and Internet services for Charlottesville and Albemarle County residents, Nelson County is served by the small company Nelson Cable. "I couldn't tell you exactly why we don't cover Nelson County," Adelphia area Vice President Curt Bourg said. "I do know that telecommunications and cable companies do look for some level of density when providing cable services to make them cost-effective."
Nelson Cable President Joe Lee McClellan estimates that only about 400 Nelson County customers have high-speed Internet. The service is available only in Wintergreen, Nellysford, Lovingston and Stony Creek. "You have to have so many homes per square mile to justify the cable service," he said.
About 300 Nelson County people subscribe to WildBlue, a high-speed satellite Internet service without the same density requirements. Yet Nelson Cable has only about five staff members who can install it, and the company would have to hire more workers to serve additional customers. "You can't just hire help off the street," McClellan said. "We're training people all the time, and we're looking for people."
Survey coordinators say broadband services are necessary to bring more economic development to the county, which has just 14,800 residents spread out over 472 square miles. They also hope to improve the quality of life for Nelson residents. "It allows them to stay there but have the opportunities that they would have had they moved to a metro setting," Jackson said.
Nelson County Economic Development and Tourism Director Maureen Corum said she hopes the survey will project a high demand for broadband. "That in turn will spur the [internet service providers] to bring their product or products to Nelson County. It's going to take a couple of different products to serve the county. ? Each Internet service comes with opportunities and limitations. We're going to have a real custom fit at the end of this so that everybody has an opportunity to have broadband if they choose."
http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP/MGArticle/CDP_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128769032290&path=!news
Napster downloads songs at the speed of ice cream melting on a winter day. E-mails load as slow as snail-mail.
A group of technology-savvy people hopes to put such Internet woes to an end for Nelson County by conducting a survey that will determine how broadband services could benefit the county. Broadband Internet connections are always on and have a capability of sending and receiving at least 200 kilobits per second. In comparison, dial-up connections send and receive 56 or fewer kilobits per second.
The survey will "figure out what broadband is, where it is, who's using it, where it isn't, who wants it where it isn't, and what they're willing to pay for it," said Sue Friedman, director of regional business assistance at the Thomas Jefferson Partnership for Economic Development. The Nelson County survey and a similar one in Elkton, a Rockingham County town with a population of about 2,000, will serve as pilot studies for a potential larger survey in Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. "The scope of the whole project is much bigger than just the two communities that they're doing right now," said Karen Jackson, vice president for broadband programs at Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology, which is coordinating the survey.
Nelson County coordinators plan to mail out as many copies as they can with a $5,000 grant from the Nelson County Economic Development Authority and map the responses to share with broadband services. "So we get a visual interpretation of where broadband is and where it isn't," Friedman said.
Many of Nelson's residents lack access to broadband and even cable television. While Adelphia provides cable television and Internet services for Charlottesville and Albemarle County residents, Nelson County is served by the small company Nelson Cable. "I couldn't tell you exactly why we don't cover Nelson County," Adelphia area Vice President Curt Bourg said. "I do know that telecommunications and cable companies do look for some level of density when providing cable services to make them cost-effective."
Nelson Cable President Joe Lee McClellan estimates that only about 400 Nelson County customers have high-speed Internet. The service is available only in Wintergreen, Nellysford, Lovingston and Stony Creek. "You have to have so many homes per square mile to justify the cable service," he said.
About 300 Nelson County people subscribe to WildBlue, a high-speed satellite Internet service without the same density requirements. Yet Nelson Cable has only about five staff members who can install it, and the company would have to hire more workers to serve additional customers. "You can't just hire help off the street," McClellan said. "We're training people all the time, and we're looking for people."
Survey coordinators say broadband services are necessary to bring more economic development to the county, which has just 14,800 residents spread out over 472 square miles. They also hope to improve the quality of life for Nelson residents. "It allows them to stay there but have the opportunities that they would have had they moved to a metro setting," Jackson said.
Nelson County Economic Development and Tourism Director Maureen Corum said she hopes the survey will project a high demand for broadband. "That in turn will spur the [internet service providers] to bring their product or products to Nelson County. It's going to take a couple of different products to serve the county. ? Each Internet service comes with opportunities and limitations. We're going to have a real custom fit at the end of this so that everybody has an opportunity to have broadband if they choose."
http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP/MGArticle/CDP_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128769032290&path=!news
