Half of Tennessee on wrong side of digital divide

The lack of broadband access and adoption in Tennessee - as elsewhere - creates a significant disadvantage for state residents and businesses, as reported in The Tennessean.

According to Connected Tennessee - a nonprofit group working to improve broadband deployment and adoption - about half of Tennessee's adult population does not have high-speed Internet service. Some of those people don't have it for financial or other reasons, whereas ten percent of the state doesn't have any access at all.

"We're desperate for broadband access," said Robertson County Schools supervisor of technology James T. Marshall. "I am four miles from a major city. Four miles. And I cannot get DSL at my house."

Fourteen percent of Tennessee's public libraries don't even have access to high-speed Internet connections.

Thanks to comprehensive mapping carried out by Connect Tennessee, members of the state broadband taskforce are hopeful that Tennessee will receive significant funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to further deploy broadband lines and increase adoption statewide.

According to Speed Matters' 2008 Report on Internet Speeds in All 50 States, Tennessee has the 17th fastest Internet download speed in the United States.

Stimulus funds could connect more rural areas to broadband (Tennessean)

2008 Report on Internet Speeds in All 50 States (Speed Matters)