Catherine Settanni wrote, in part:
> ...there are many other barriers as well that low-income residents
> face regarding Internet access. One is that broadband companies don't
> have to provide service in all neighborhoods; only in the middle and
> high income neighborhoods where they expect the most paying customers.
> This will not "correct itself" -- it is a market driven effect that
> discriminates against the very populations that might most benefit
> from access ...
On the other hand, the following is from Addendum #1 of the Saint Paul
Broadband Technology Needs Assessment RFP:
7. Is the City able to identify wards or districts that may
be underserved by broadband?
Response: No, however according to Comcast, residential
broadband services are available to almost 100% of St. Paul,
with some minor development pocket exceptions, and Qwest
provides DSL service to approximately 95% of St. Paul.
(I don't have similar information for Minneapolis.)
How ought I reconcile these two seemingly contradictory claims made
by Catherine and Comcast/Qwest?
Are the two sides simply discussing the last few percent of the city
that doesn't yet have broadband services? Where are these areas?
Are they same for both cable and DSL, or do all areas in Saint Paul
have access to at least one of these broadband technologies?
Are there still underserved neighborhoods in Minneapolis and Saint
Paul? Or, were the services _initially_ rolled out in the areas
where demand was expected to be greatest, but the roll-out is now
largely complete?
Catherine, I believe that your organization is ideally positioned
to provide evidence that might refute the assertion that broadband
services are nearly universally available in the Twin Cities. You
could make a valuable contribution to this debate if your Web side
would compile a list of unsuccessful efforts to obtain either cable
or DSL broadband services in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. (Actually,
I think the list of exchanges that don't support DSL may be readily
accessible.)
By the way, some wireless broadband services require only a relatively
few, widely dispersed facilities (e.g., towers) to provide service
over a relatively wide geographic area. See, for example, the
coverage map for StoneBridge Wireless Broadband, which
offers wireless broadband services in the Twin Cities area:
http://www.sbwireless.net/enlarge.htm
Note that StoneBridge services are not cost-competitive with cable
and DSL, but I believe that Clearwire's prices are
(http://www.clearwire.com/). Unfortunately, while Clearwire services
are available in some parts of Minnesota, they are not yet available
in the Twin Cities.
-tjs
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