You never know what you've got 'til it's gone... The internet has become a lifeline to rural communities, and a necessity for business. Advocates for universal broadband know this, but rarely does an example become as clear as what happened to the small coastal community of Point Arena in northern California, when the area's primary internet provider went out of business earlier this year.
http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_17918444
"What we found, really, is that our economic viability is now, today, dependent on the Internet -- not necessarily so much the five megs (megabytes of data), 10 megs thing, but certainly dial-up speed and even 500 to 750 k (kilobytes) is not really acceptable for a lot of people," Jirak said. "Without Esplanade, we really don't have any currently viable alternative," he said. The examples Jirak gave to illustrate how the company's closure affected the community included a family whose children are home schooled, businesses needing to keep up with regulations and many others. "All of the sudden you can't pay your employees because you're using a payroll service; even if you have Quick Books locally you still are getting payroll updates ... tax filings, regulatory compliance," Jirak said. "Any more, if you're doing anything in a regulated industry, you've got to be on the Web, and websites are optimized for speed, so if you have a slow connection, sometimes you actually can't complete your transaction." The shut-down meant people had to commute to use the Internet, Jirak said, reducing their pay by 10 percent or more.
So by commute to use the internet, that meant that some people would have had to drive about an hour north to the town of Mendocino to use a public wireless hot spot there. The Coast Community Library in Point Arena was one of the affected locations, so everyone who relied on the library was without access. The library has been without internet for several weeks - internet that not only provides general access for patrons, but access to the county library catalog.
The city of Point Arena's satellite connection through WildBlue wasn't interrupted, but increased public use is causing "excess bandwidth consumption," Jirak noted. The city's pharmacy immediately switched to satellite service when Esplanade failed, according to Jirak, because it needs high-speed Internet access to submit claims to the government and insurance companies for approval. "All the controlled drugs -- anything having to do with regulation -- has to go through these websites, and they just don't work, they time out, they just don't work under slow speed," Jirak said. Keeping up with government regulations and planning permits meant Bedrock -- the area's major concrete, rock and gravel supplier for road construction -- had to sign up for satellite service immediately, too, he said. Jirak went on to detail effects on an art printing facility whose art work was displayed and sold online; an environmental advocate who works from home; the non-profit theater whose accountant must now make an hourlong commute; and his own efforts to find a replacement Internet service provider for Esplanade's former customers. "This is no longer a hypothetical issue ... this is a matter of delivering aggregate out in the building site; this is a matter of keeping our communities going," Jirak said.
The biggest irony of all is that Point Arena has a giant data cable running right through it: as the point in the continental US closest to Hawaii, it is the eastern terminus of several undersea cables owned by AT&T (PDF). Unfortunately, though, from the Point Arena Cable Station, there are no access points that would enable it to be used by local residents; instead, it's a throughway to San Francisco. AT&T and its predecessor, Pacific Bell, have no plans to create an access point, because they find it uneconomic to offer service in their traditional fashion. In other areas, the telecoms have gone out of their way to specifically block access into such points by local internet providers - because there seems to be some belief that they might eventually get to those customers. Telecom rules don't force them to cooperate.
This sign at Point Arena's recycling center tells you a lot about this little town.
It's a small town on the coast. You wouldn't think, off hand, that internet would be a critical utility. But, every day, another form, another service, another customer becomes available only online, which brings both great opportunity - because now being in an isolated spot like Point Arena gives you access to the whole world - and also the higher risk, that we cannot cope without those services. Point Arena is relatively lucky: they will get, after much headache and frustration, some sort of replacement service, and it will be some time this year. Many communities haven't even had their first taste of internet better than dial-up. In theory, we should be able to get along without electric or phone or mail, but most people don't. Internet is becoming as important as any of those. It's important that all communities have access, even those that the big telecoms don't plan to get to for another 50 years.