HIGH SPEED INTERNET ACCESS STILL A VISION FOR RURAL WV

(09/27/2004)

West Virginia has been slow in getting high speed internet access. Despite political promises of lurching forward into the 21st century with access to the information super-highway, the lurch has been a slow creep in West Virginia. The vision of helping rural economies by high-speed access - operating a business wherever you are - is slowing becoming a reality. The Federal Communications Commission says that only about 10-13 percent of state households subscribe to some form of high-speed access. Most do not have it available. Nationwide, about 25% of households have a high-speed connection, with a large percentage having availability. West Virginia's numbers are increasing very slowly. The FCC's goal is internet access for all households that can transmit at least 100 megabytes of data per second. West Virginia's plan to expand faster connections focuses on letting the private market answer demand. Unfortunately, with most counties having a small, rural and scattered population, there is no rush to serve interested customers, or the cost of providing high-speed is out of reach for many families. Dial-up usage in the state still lags behind most of America.

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