Owner Rex Bence says the cafe is one of only three places in town with high-speed Internet access.
"If you get Internet through the telephone or even through satellite, it's extremely slow," Bence said. "The state keeps saying it's going to get done, but there's a lot of frustration."
Vermont's rugged terrain and low population density leave an estimated 15-20 percent of the population without access to high-speed Internet.
Last month, the Obama administration promised $795 million in stimulus money to increase rural broadband access. But some tech experts and rural residents aren't sure that's enough -- and some wonder if broadband development will slow down once stimulus money dries up.
"Broadband is capital-intensive, and the level of available funding in the future will influence the ability to achieve big leaps in the level of broadband availability and the rate of upgrades," said Chris Campbell, director of the Vermont Telecommunications Authority, which won $33 million in Commerce Department grants this month.
Vermont received $47 million from the Commerce Department in the latest round of broadband stimulus funding. The state will use the money to build a 770-mile fiber optic network that will extend affordable high-speed Internet to rural "anchors," such as libraries, schools, and hospitals.
Now, Vermont Telephone Company, the East Central Vermont Community Fiber Network and other Vermont businesses are waiting to hear if they've been awarded Agriculture Department grants-also funded with stimulus dollars-to extend service from these anchors to homes and small businesses. The department says it expects to announce recipients soon.
The decision will help determine which rural Vermonters get broadband access at their homes and businesses, and how quickly.
"The fact that we haven't heard about an award for Vermont from the Department of Agriculture is really disappointing," Campbell said. "This kind of funding available last year would have helped to accelerate things substantially. There are certainly a lot of people waiting to hear about the outcome of these programs."
The sluggish pace of the federal grant process also may have slowed private investment in rural broadband, Campbell added.
"With the promise of this large amount of money, people waited to make investments until they knew the outcome," he said.
After Sept. 30, no more stimulus money will be awarded for broadband projects.
Jonathan Adelstein, administrator of the Agriculture Department's Rural Utilities Service, said broadband loans and grants, as well as distance learning and telemedicine programs, will remain priorities even after funding decreases.
"We know that with the funds we have, we can't solve the whole problem, but we're trying to chip away at it," he said. "We recognize that there are still going be holes when we're done."
Sharon Strover, director of the telecommunications institute at the University of Texas, says rural residents need to help fill those holes.
"They need awareness, they need training, they need to get organized, they need to work with providers," she said. "When communities get active and there are some champions who get people fired up about using broadband, more things happen."
In Vermont, stimulus funding and state initiatives will continue to increase access, said Paul Costello, director of the Vermont Council on Rural Development, which received a $2.5 million federal grant to teach rural residents how to use the Internet.
"But let's face it, this is not going to end in two years with full service that you won't need to change in five years," he said. "Bandwidth will continue to expand, and we're constantly going to be working to catch up in rural areas."
---
Autor(en)/Author(s): Elizabeth Bewley
Quelle/Source: Burlington Free Press, 01.08.2010
Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:
