If you want high-speed internet access, and you happen to live in certain areas on and around Eastern Kentucky's Pine Mountain, where I live--currently there's only one thing to do: Move.
Rural and low-income communities across the US are still on dial-up Internet. A couple of weeks ago I started meeting with a group across the mountain from me that was organizing for broadband access.
I met Samantha, a student, who has to deal with an unreliable dial-up connection. Internet frustrations aren't just about not being able to snag her favorite tunes it is about her education and being able to make a go at staying in her community. Rural America needs all the help it can get fending off brain-drain. High-speed internet seems crucial and to that end the folks in Harlan are getting behind the call for Universal Broadband.
Watch their "Dial-Up Blues" music video below the fold.
Their music video (full disclosure/I helped produce it!)
Samantha's story:
I think about how upset I get if I check into a hotel that doesn't have wi-fi. Imagine being on dial-up. The deal in Samantha's community is that the telecom provider has no incentive to "go the last mile." She told ne she's called the company about a dozen times trying to order broadband, which actually advertises in her area.
The local folks have created Pine Mountain Residents for Broadband and are starting to lobby Rep. Rogers (R) to endorse the National Broadband Plan, which calls for broadband Internet to be defined as a Universal Service--like phones were.
If it is left up to Telecoms to define which areas get access rural areas are going to be left behind. Plain and simple.
With some help from me and some artists friends the group has started a quirky website call dialuprocks.org. It allows you to send a letter to your Congress Member and sign onto a national petition.
Are folks in your community still on dial-up? Let the FCC know what you think.