pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
 ·Comcast
| Bah
This story points out some interesting facts.
quote:
The State has lost 120,200 jobs in the last year, and North Carolina's unemployment rate has reached 8.7%.
This alone proves that broadband will do very little if not anything to increase employment. Over the course of the past 10 years it would be impossible to argue against the fact that broadband deployments have expanded significantly in North Carolina as well as in every other state. Simply put, more people can get broadband in 2009 than in 1999. However, unemployment has risen and fallen independent of broadband deployments.
quote:
A state grass roots effort named the E-NC Authority has been working to shore up North Carolina's coverage gaps for years, and was one of the first outfits in the country to craft broadband maps.
I don't think it would be accurate to refer to E-NC Authority as "grass roots" as it was specifically created by the state government, as their website indicates:
quote:
The e-NC Authority was preceded by the Rural Internet Access Authority, and was created on Aug. 2, 2000 by the N.C. General Assembly. The organization became fully functional in January 2001 and is governed by a commission appointed by the governor and the N.C. General Assembly. By legislative mandate, the e-NC Authority is housed and staffed by the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center.
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Blagojevich / Madoff 2012! |
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jandar
join:2006-01-16
Middleburg, FL
| My local Electric Co-op is surveying people
They want to know if you have access to broadband, not if you have it, but can you get it.
These kind of surveys fill in the gaps as well. Too many people are still un-served by broadband/wifi/WiMax.
Its not a matter of rural people just wanting dialup, thats fine if they do, but those who want broadband don't always get it.
I pay for a dialup account for my mother who cannot get DSl/Cable/Wifi/WiMax or anything faster than 1/4 strength CDMA (on a good day with a powered antenna) |
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decifal
join:2007-03-10
Bon Aqua, TN
| This much
I know this much from my own personal experience.. I haven't bothered to purchase any online war games as of late nor any other faster paced games simply due to the fact my isdn will not handle them.. I do not "pay" to download games online.. Instead I purchase any that I can play at stores to have a hard copy. Even a game I can play for the moment, world of warcraft is at times severe on my isdn connection.. Specially when they roll out big patches, even with the predownload, it takes a long time to download some of them..
Video streaming is outta the question, so any of the online sites with streaming content is a no no for me. I don't even want windows updating itself automatically being that the net performance hit is dramatic enough it haults any productivity and/or gametime..
I would pay 60 a month for a broadband connection from either att or comcast being they have the claims where I live, but still no avail. I would buy more games, if I were able to play them.. Hell, i'd get a 360 and ps3 if I could enjoy them like I should be able to.. But I cannot.. Now granted, i'm a small pebble in a huge pond and those already blessed with multiple access, will simply say "move" but this reasoning for someone not in a rural area is worn out.. I would be doing my part in stimulating jobs and the economy if I were allowed.. And no.. I"m not spending 400 a month on a T1... Thats just insane |
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Myra Nelson
@direcway.com
| Hughesnet
Don't forget that Hughesnet (Direcway) is considered broadband. That skews any survey taken as far as I'm concerned.
Those of us who are forced to use Hughes (dial up just doesn't cut it any more) because of the lack of availability of anything else, other than dial up, would love to see some other options. That might make for better pricing from Hughes. After 5 years with Hughes, we would switch in a minute if something else were available. |
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eCorridors
@vt.edu
 from:
Core0000 
| Broadband map and speedtest
Please run a speedtest for your home connection and mark your location on the map. This is a grassroots, crowdsourcing approach to mapping broadband and associated quality, pricing, technology and provider. Please forward and link to the map with wild abandon!
»www.ecorridors.vt.edu/maps/broadbandmap.php |
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Eat Me
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ | reply to jandar
Re: My local Electric Co-op is surveying people
This is probably at the request of IBM for BPL part deux.
Don't worry this will fall flat on its face like the other BPL projects.
IBM is just using rural areas to secure funding. |
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Eat Me
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ | reply to Myra Nelson
Re: Hughesnet
No doubt the definition of broadband needs to be revised.
But I see Hughesnet is offering up to 3M packages. Do you even get that kind of speed? I'm guessing not, and I'm guessing FAP comes into play too. |
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neowulf
join:2000-10-20
Port Orange, FL
| reply to Myra Nelson
As far as I am concerned they might as well just label Satellite internet as dial-up and get it over with. The lag is insane, the speed is never close to advertised, and such a low FAP that you end up being restricted to dial-up speeds any ways, seems only logical that Satellite internet is not broadband.
They definitely need to redefine what broadband means in America if they still consider garbage like Hughesnet broadband. I am sure that is the only reason we see the 91-97% stat of broadband coverage always thrown around.
When your first hop to the outside world looks like:
3 2399 ms * * dpc6682157194.direcpc.com [66.82.157.194]
That is not broadband in my books. |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| reply to Eat Me
said by Eat Me :No doubt the definition of broadband needs to be revised. But I see Hughesnet is offering up to 3M packages. Do you even get that kind of speed? I'm guessing not, and I'm guessing FAP comes into play too. Actually they offer up to 5 meg except it's over $320 a month the 3 meg is $190 a month and yes you have a 500 MB daily cap. and with tht latency you can forget online gaming or anything that is time sensitive. |
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IT Guy
Ow, My Balls
Premium
join:2004-07-29
Las Cruces, NM
clubs: | Internet Refugee Camps?
Reminds me of that South Park episode. "We're going out Californee way to get us some Internet."
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My time is a piece of wax, falling on a termite, that's choking on a splinter. --Beck |
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Mce Saint
join:2007-10-03
Saint Louis, MO
 ·AT&T Midwest
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to pnh102
Re: Bah
quote:
This alone proves that broadband will do very little if not anything to increase employment.
No, it does not prove such a thing. It could be broadband is a necessary, but not sufficient, element of job creation/retention.
Look at it this way, I'd bet that the state is utilizing more business tax incentives (of all types) today than it was 10 years ago. Yet, the State lost 120,000 jobs. Does that *prove* that tax incentives for businesses have little or nothing to do with increased employment? |
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neowulf
join:2000-10-20
Port Orange, FL
| reply to pnh102
quote:
This alone proves that broadband will do very little if not anything to increase employment. Over the course of the past 10 years it would be impossible to argue against the fact that broadband deployments have expanded significantly in North Carolina as well as in every other state. Simply put, more people can get broadband in 2009 than in 1999. However, unemployment has risen and fallen independent of broadband deployments.
While I can not really agree with that assessment based on broadband does give people new opportunities a connection with the outside world, new ideas, new information.
I have a farm in rural West Virginia, guess didn't have to add rural to West Virginia... Where I was planning on building cabins for vacation rentals. Having a high speed connection out there would help my business access to the outside world, best way to advertise something like that, lots of pictures and media. I would also be able to offer a connection to vacationers as there is not even cell service out there.
A lot of farmers live around me there, I would say it is a 50/50 split on them wanting broadband out there. The ones who don't are the old timers, people who have been living there, never left the county in the 70+ years they have been there and don't even have phone service or electric. Then there is the other half, who get whatever service they can, sadly that means dial-up or satellite.
There is DSL service one town away about 7miles. Which even surprised me, and after talking to one of the guys in town after he got DSL, he said "I never thought about broadband before, but now that I have it I wouldn't be able to live without it"
I think a lot of people who use dial-up in those studies that say they would never use broadband. Have never even been able to use broadband or don't understand what broadband even is. I bet as soon as they had a chance to use it they would want it.
I just do not get why people fight against rural broadband, and every time there is talk about rural broadband there is this fight of it is just a waste of time and money. While people in the city cry that they don't have 50Mbit service where they live, while there is still plenty in this country stuck with 56k.
I am just lucky enough that I live in the city 10 months out of the year, and only stuck without broadband for 2 months. I just don't know how those people stuck out in the rural areas with dial-up wanting broad band do it. |
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fatness
subtle
Janitor
join:2000-11-17
fishing
·EarthLink
Host:
Earthlink DSL
TekSavvy
Forum Feature Requ..
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Rants, Raves, and ..
| reply to pnh102
said by pnh102 :This story points out some interesting facts. quote:
The State has lost 120,200 jobs in the last year, and North Carolina's unemployment rate has reached 8.7%.
This alone proves that broadband will do very little if not anything to increase employment. It doesn't prove anything of the sort.
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goodbye dad |
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Mizzat
Will post for thumbs
Premium
join:2003-05-03
Atlanta, GA | Scary
If farmers discover WoW crops will stop being grown, staple prices will go through the roof from low supply and we'll be even worse off!
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-M |
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void_of_Ligh
join:2005-12-27
Nacogdoches, TX | reply to decifal
Re: This much
I haven't upgraded my computer in about 5 years or bought more and 1 game a year for several years for this very reason. Why have a lighting fast machine when I cant play online. |
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jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
USA | reply to pnh102
Re: Bah
Er, huh? |
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jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
USA | reply to jandar
Re: My local Electric Co-op is surveying people
Good idea, maybe this should be included in the Census data. Can you get broadband? What speed can you get? Do you have broadband? What speed do you pay for? What speed to you actually get? What is the source ( DSL/Cable/Wifi/etc...) |
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PDXPLT
join:2003-12-04
Banks, OR
| reply to BF69
Re: Hughesnet
Speed isn't the issue on satellite, latency is. FTP's run OK, but anything interactive (which is most things) run very slowly. Web pages take a long time to load, VOIP and gaming are impossible, and more often than not, secure sites time out. There is an alternative to Hughnet, Wildblue, which I'm on, but it is no better. |
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decifal
join:2007-03-10
Bon Aqua, TN
| reply to void_of_Ligh
Re: This much
said by void_of_Ligh :I haven't upgraded my computer in about 5 years or bought more and 1 game a year for several years for this very reason. Why have a lighting fast machine when I cant play online. Tell me about it.. I'm sitting in a similar situation.. I keep looking at quad core systems etc, but then when I think of making a move for it.. I remember.. Why am I going to upgrade when all the fun games are online and require broadband? Heh, i'm still running a agp video card.. Which granted, it does the job, but I would be able to justify a major overhaul if I could make better use of my machine... Nothing like installing Orange box, just to be held back by days of patches |
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Core0000
Premium
join:2008-05-04
Somerset, KY | reply to eCorridors
Re: Broadband map and speedtest
Alright. I did it.
Good idea! Thanks for sharing.
I am like the only one in my state who has done this.. lmfao.  |
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