Half of Florida does not have high speed Internet access

Even in the state of Florida, which is among the fastest of all states in terms of high speed Internet, about half of the state's population does not have high speed Internet access, leaving some Floridians frustrated and stuck with dial-up Internet. The Anschutz family, for example, lives in an area that is considered "too far out" to get high speed Internet service.

"It's awful," said [Margaret] Anschutz, 45, a Florida Hospital nurse. "I don't even use the Internet at my house. . . . Most people are like: 'Oh, my God. You have dial-up. No wonder you don't use it.' "

The state and telecomm companies both say that it is simply too costly to build the infrastructure necessary to connect everyone to high speed Internet. They would not get a big enough return (i.e. subscribers) to make up for the initial cost in areas that are too sparsley populated.

The Anschutz family could purchase satellite-dish service for higher speed connections, but the cost is prohibitive -- $600 for the first month, and $70-$100 thereafter.

Rural areas could benefit especially from high speed Internet access, from improved access to health care and education resources, to growing business from local to global markets, the opportunities with high speed Internet are endless.

Florida can look to states like Kentucky for advances being made in high speed Internet access expansion, but as long as the nation is relying on a hodge-podge of state-by-state programs, the country still loses. In order to help the half of Florida that remains disconnected, and rural areas all over the country, we need a national high speed Internet policy.

High speed Internet can be slow to arrive (Orlando Sentinel)

ConnectKentucky: A model for the rest of the country (Speed Matters)

Need for a National Policy (Speed Matters)