Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered receiving a survey several months prior from the Office of Economic Development about the countywide need for high-speed internet access. I went to their website and lo and behold, the survey was still on their home page, so I clicked on it, expressing our critical need for service. Since the survey was several months old, I put a call into the Executive Director to see if there were any preliminary results and/or progress with local service providers. My call went to voice mail, so I sent a well-worded and respectful email and waited for a response.
I wasn't expecting a rapid response since escalating the issue to the level of County Government, so waited patiently for a reply. Let me tell you something, living in a rural county does have its advantages. Within a few days, I had a response and not from an assistant to the Executive Director or an Intern but from the Executive Director himself. With a glimmer of hope, I opened the email, which began:
I wish I had some good news to present to you.
My heart sank. He went on to describe how difficult it was to get any of the major providers to be forthcoming with information and/or a timeline for development in our area. Much of what he cited I had heard from Mr. Sales Person; the excuses/justifications for lack of service. Misery may love company but I didn't find a lot of comfort in knowing that he too had been working with the local service providers to no avail and shared my dismay. He closed his email with a chilling statement:
We have had more than one business that did not locate in the county because of the lack of [broad band] services.
I imagine at this point, most folks would say to themselves, "if the County's been working on this issue and can't get anywhere, then surely I can't get anywhere." Except, I'm not most folks when it comes to issues I perceive as an injustice. And this one smacks of injustice when a select few (those like me in the outlying areas of the county) cannot access the same quality of life services as our neighbors. I know, you're thinking "what does high-speed internet access have to do with quality of life?", but think about all the ways you use the internet. I and my neighbors can't take on-line classes to further our education, we can't be competitive in the job market as we have no exposure to rapidly changing/improving technology, etc... In essence, we are stuck in a time warp during a time when the job market is shrinking while the number of unemployed is rising.
Want a little irony in the middle of this saga? Studies have revealed it's the rural communities who benefit the most from high-speed internet access. President Obama knows this and has included money in the economic stimulus package to bring the much-needed technology to those very communities. Do you think someone at Comcast knows this? That there's money to pay for the huge build out costs they claim is too exorbitant to justify bringing high-speed internet access to our area? Hello, is anybody listening?
Armed with this information, I send an email to Mr. Sales Person relaying that it's not just one isolated person [me] on a country road asking anymore, but the Office of Economic Development for Cheatham County and could they kindly see through their myopic haze and get to work?
His response:
Basically, this would be a huge build out cost for Comcast and it will not be available in that area for at least 6 months and quite possibly longer because of all the upgrades that we will need to do to offer services in that area. We may consider it a build out in 2010 but nothing has been decided on it at this point. If you want to check back with me in 6 months, I will attempt to get another update for you at that time. I'm sorry for the bad news.
This is the same song and dance I've been getting for the last 4 years from Comcast and to be fair AT&T as well, who is now also courting me for bundled business services.
My reply:
I am a longtime activist and will not go quietly. I imagine Comcast is profitable in Cheatham County from the households to whom you currently provide service. I'll be talking with [the Executive Director of the Office of Economic Development] about how we might exercise our collective consumer muscle in a positive way. It's the rural communities who benefit most from high-speed internet access. It makes good business sense for Comcast to look beyond the bottom line toward improved community relations.
His final shot across the bow:
*I'm typing this verbatim, so fill in the blanks with the appropriate word choices when what's before you isn't quite on target.
I understand and really appreciate that you want Comcast in your area, but there are several factors, not *such monetary, that go along with providing service in any area. We want to make sure we are *proving the right amount of bandwidth to our customers so that we do not run into problems and so we don't have unhappy customers. So there has to be a certain standard that we will have to attain.
One word comes to mind when I read this...horseshit. I imagine this also came off a script somewhere, just like his sales pitch, but forgive me for scaling the City's water tower and painting "Comcast is full of horseshit" in big bold letters so tall you can read them while driving down Hwy 12.
Tomorrow...Installment 4 or "What will her next step be?"
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