Hometown Computer

I went to fix a computer today for HP, they sent a network card to the client. This client lived in the country, 4 miles from the nearest DSL node, and had dial-up internet. She had told the tech on the phone she had dial-up several times, but apparently this was beyond their comprehension. A new Ethernet port was not going to fix her connectivity problem.

My parents tried to get high speed internet where they live. There is a Fairpoint DSL node a few miles away, and Time Warner has cable on their road but not to their location. Time Warner told them it would cost several thousand dollars to run the line to them. They use a Verizon Wireless USB adapter for their internet. This is less than ideal as well, since there is  a 5GB/month cap on this use, and isn’t a whole lot faster than dial-up in itself.

With so many businesses and individuals depending on the internet these days, there needs to be more of an effort made to reach these people. Without email, Skype, and even getting programs and updates in a timely manner, this can cause the economy to come to a standstill, at least an individual economy.