>From Ken:
As far as economic growth, gigabit Internet isn't going to magically bring economic growth. But if you don't have access to basic broadband, you definitely are shut out of part of the economy. One thing I've seen a lot in my area is the impact of the efficiency requirements of the Affordable Healthcare Act. Insurance and healthcare companies are moving buildings full of office workers to work from home, in order to cut their overhead costs. Customers who used to commute 30 miles to the suburbs now need broadband to work from home, and 1M/384K DSL isn't good enough, if they can even get that. But if they can get reliable 3/1 from a WISP, they still have a job, plus other people out here in the country can get those jobs. And now they have a couple hours they used to spend commuting to spend with their families. I think this is a real life example of economic impact of broadband, or the flip side, the impact of lack of broadband if you're on the wrong side of the digital divide. I would be very interested to see some kind of report of employment data and what projects have succeeded in "gigabit" markets vs. standard internet markets. Is there really that much of a difference... Yes, like many of you, I know most people use the internet for netflix (among other things). What else is out there and more importantly, what does gigabit enable?
