My regular readers may recall that one of the topics I follow is internet access for rural counties in Ohio. And not just access, but high speed connectivity at an affordable price. I have tried to be an advocate for them wherever possible. There is no way Ohio can move forward as a collective unit, for every business, especially those small and medium size ones in lower populated areas, unless and until they have high speed internet at an affordable price.
I was reminded of this when I saw a few sentences of the current global situation with internet access in Fortune Magazine's February 6, 2012 issue. According to International Telecommunication Union (a part of the United Nations, see: http://www.itu.int/en/Pages/default.aspx), 35% of the world's people have access to the internet. I was a bit surprised because I thought developed countries would have more of an impact. I also noticed the word "access" was used. To me that doesn't mean the internet (computer) is in people's homes, just that one has a computer available to get to the internet. So again, I thought the number would be higher.
This lead me to think that it was time to review Ohio and its high speed status. I used this website: http://connectohio.org/ to look at their maps. If you scroll down on their home page there are 4 maps to choose from. From my vantage point, there does seem to be progress. More people do have internet. More people have high speed internet. At what price? That I am not sure of. Are there spots with no access? Yes, I know that myself as I traveled around Appalachia and lost my connections all the time.
I am glad there are local advocates working for their communities and surrounding areas. I also believe providers of high speed internet are coming along in figuring out how to provide such a service at an affordable price. Not all the answers have been found, but the maps show that there are those who understand the importance of this situation. Thank you for your efforts.
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