Byte by Bite

More High Speed Internet Would Be a Good Thing

by Marv Dealy

In addition, many folks have either called or stopped by my office, searching for a solution – any solution – to get them out of the doldrums of 28.8 modem dial-up speeds. That last measurement comes from reader Dick Chimenti in Cedar Ridge, by the way.

Writes Dick: “Here I sit in Cedar Ridge with my dialup maxing out at 28.8. I don’t know if there are others up here that would like broadband, so what’s a guy to do, eh?”

“I received a note from a friend in the Groveland area who was trying to get others in that area to contact SBC and let them know they wanted DSL. He said that SBC would react only if enough interest was expressed.”

The first thing that comes to mind, Dick, is that yes, there are a whole ton of people trying to figure out how to get broadband without having to take out a fourth mortgage.

If you’ve been diligent and read this column every Friday you’ll recollect we’ve heard from many folks in search of broadband, including Tony Seidel in the Curtis Creek Ranch area.

Tony last wrote that, a month after having presented a letter signed by 90 “constituents representing 60+ individual residences” that he’d had no response from County Supervisor Mark Thornton. “The letter asks his help in getting something better than 26.5K dial-up.”

For those of you in Curtis Creek, you may be interested to know that I’ve heard of even lower speeds in the eastern areas of Pine Mountain Lake, for example. Think of those folks – Old Priest Grade and slow dial-up in the same day!

An aside – for those of you who fear The Hill, I’m telling you after a few runs it’s a piece of cake. In fact, some industrious group ought to get together, arrange with the county for the closure of the Old Grade for a day and run races – both mechanized and other – up and/or down it. Raise some money for some good cause, have a good time, and maybe get rid of some of that excess rubber that’s built up on your back tires.

Back to Tony and his letter – I don’t expect that Mark Thornton or any one other person out there can waive any magic wand truly strong enough to solve the lack of high speed Internet access easily.

But I wonder, where is the discussion of how to fix this problem? Is the Tuolumne County Chamber of Commerce chasing after the problem? It would certainly seem to be something that would fall under its venue, what with its mission of providing “leadership for a healthy and vibrant business environment” in the area. (http://www.tcchamber.com/) It would certainly be a benefit to those of their membership who don’t have adequate Internet access. Should the Chamber be lobbying and writing letters to various officials? How about to AT&T née SBC?

Are there other groups out there who ought to be lobbying for better broadband? How about a Commission on Something? Why doesn’t this seem to be on anyone’s agenda who can “do something about it?” What about the local ISPs? Where is their voice on the issue of limited broadband access? Wouldn’t you think they’d make more money by offering faster access? What about the local cable companies? Why are they allowed to not provide broadband Internet access? I’d think that any others that come to mind you ought to e-mail me about and let’s discuss this further.

I haven’t found anyone who will argue with the idea that if there was more broadband Internet available that there are more folks who would love to telecommute and who just can’t accomplish that on slow dial-up.

I’ve heard stories of people who moved a distance of just a few miles so that they would be able to get DSL Internet access in southern Tuolumne County, because with the fast access they were able to telecommute. I’ve been told by others that the wiring is all in place but the necessary switches are missing to bring DSL to lots more homes and businesses, but that AT&T née SBC doesn’t want to spend the necessary money.

Yet, I understand from someone else that if AT&T née SBC would say publicly what they’ve said privately that he’d stand up and ameliorate at least part of the problem in a big hurry, again in south Tuolumne County.

I’ve not heard of any such schemes up 108, although I’ve talked with one individual well east of Twain Harte at length about forming an ad hoc group to meet one time and talk about our mutual problem and search for perhaps non-traditional solutions and means of facilitating them. This individual is representative of those who need to telecommute as he is in the “computer business.”

There are dozens of types of small to medium business that can’t operate without broadband and who, therefore, wouldn’t even consider us as an area to move to. Shouldn’t the folks who look out for the economic development of the county be climbing all over this issue?

From my perspective, much more available broadband would be a boon not just to business folks who hate the drive to the Bay Area and back, but also to folks like my folks.

Without the Internet and Instant Messaging and e-mail, we’d not keep in nearly as close contact since they are a 2-day drive away. If we both had to deal with slow dial-up we certainly wouldn’t be able to exchange the virtual torrent of pictures that, with the help of digital cameras, are easy to pass back and forth.

If you’ve the notion that you might like to contribute at a one-time meeting on the subject of getting more broadband available in our neck of the woods, drop me an e-mail or call care of this newspaper. It’d be better if you had something to offer rather than just a rant about how it’s not happening.