1 edit | We do have broadband... Heh. I have an interesting perspective to add to this discussion as I just moved to the Southside area about a year and half ago. Jan. will be 2yrs.
About 3-4 months after I moved in I got DSL. The ability to get DSL was there when I moved, I just couldn't afford it. The speed rates at the time were 768/512. Then when I hopped back on BBR to check a few things I saw the thread for 3.0Mbps on Sprint DSL. So I called Sprint up and upgraded my plan. We now have 5.0Mbps service available but I'm happy with my 3.0Mbps and bill as it is.
But to get down to it there are several major areas that I live near. South Hill (being where I live in town), Boydton ( a very very small town), Clarksville (much larger than Boydton), and Chase City. South Boston is somewhat close to Clarksville, but I've never been there. Basically Verizon owns half the lines in the county and the other half goes to Sprint. Verizon has DSL available to Clarksville (within 3mi r) and in Chase City (within 3mi r). The rest of the county has issues with "the last mile". Its just too rural. Many homes are positioned away from the main roads. Much of the area is farm land...to Tobacco fields nonetheless.
LoL. I pass at least 3 Tobacco fields on my way to work.
I also have access to broadband cable, I just choose DSL atm. I've been thinking of switching because for roughly the same cost (possibly lower) I could get tv + broadband and ditch my land line and keep my cell phone. Although imo solely using a cell phone is a bad idea. They just aren't reliable enough in case of emergencies (imo).
I'll tell you though, these people always ask me when broadband is coming. My answer is usually to call their phone company or cable company. OR call the Sat. although I normally mention the costs involved with sat. and they say the hell with it. The phone systems around these areas need to be upgraded before any real broadband can be put in place imo. Line noise is a HUGE problem (at least near Boydton/Clarksville) area, usually only after storms in the populated areas. The rural areas always seem to have problems no matter what. My guess is they use really old unshielded/poorly shielded cabling.
Government officials live in NOVA, thus the *need* for high speed. lol. Seriously though I think its due to so many large businesses have their headquarters there along with the population density (all along the Metro area). |
