From: Michael Sciano
Columbus
For all the talk of economic development in Bartholomew County, I find many of the efforts disingenuous, as most of the county outside city limits still lack modern, affordable broadband internet access.
Both Jackson and Brown counties have successfully implemented wired broadband internet for rural areas respectively. Both counties are a fraction of the size of Bartholomew County.
The lack of access to consistent, affordable, wired broadband internet is a daily frustration and barrier to success for those living in rural areas within the county.
Let me clear up any misunderstandings before going on. First, “rural” in Bartholomew County is not the same as being hundreds of miles in the middle of nowhere Montana. I live in the southwestern area of our county, a mere 8 miles from city limits. Secondly, complaining about the lack of internet access isn’t about watching the latest movie on Netflix or playing the latest online game.
We are limited to two choices of home internet: satellite internet or mobile carrier provided hotspots. Both are slow, throttled, and very expensive. Neither of these options can keep up with the amount of data and the required speed of daily applications and websites, providing single digit mbps speeds (as compared to 100 mbps available in town). They are both throttled offerings, meaning you are limited to a certain amount of data each month. They both cost hundreds of dollars a month, significantly more than offerings in-town.
Accomplishing the most basic functions in 2020 becomes a burden. I could fill the page of this newspaper with all the hassles: our kids can sometimes hardly access or complete their online school work; some online textbooks don’t even load because the connection is so slow; banking applications timeout, causing errors; some websites don’t even work all-together; having online home security systems is not an option; sharing large files for personal or work-related reasons is brutally slow.
People across the county are trying to create or grow businesses and cannot achieve progress without better internet. Small businesses struggle to keep a strong signal and waste much needed revenue on higher bills, farmers are limited from accessing more modern tools, and many people are self-employed or remote-based employees for companies.
It’s an absolute embarrassment that I work as a remote-employee for one of the largest software companies in the world and cannot work from home most days, electing to work from in-town coffee shops instead.
In 2019, over $22 million dollars was awarded to Bartholomew County to implement wired broadband internet in rural areas. However, to date, no updates or statuses have been shared. No plan is accessible. I can’t even determine who oversees the money to implement it.
We are long past the days when internet access is optional or a luxury. Internet access must be a basic utility, no different than electricity and water. That is not hyperbole. It’s a necessity in today’s America and without it, segments of our population fall farther behind in every aspect of life.
