Out of the way, out of options

Need proof of our nation's deficient high speed internet infrastructure? Just look toward the Tulsa, Oklahoma region, where there are far too few DSL and cable hubs to serve local residents.

Doris G., Debbie K., and Alan B. are well aware of this lack of service. Each of them really wants high speed internet service, but their locations mean they're out of luck. According to AT&T, residents must live within 14,000 feet of DSL equipment to get connected. But Doris, Debbie and Alan each live more than 50,000 feet from the nearest DSL hub, so that's not an option.

Neither lives close enough to a cable system to receive cable service either. All that's left, then, is satellite service, which costs up to $80 a month for 1.5 mbps and requires hundreds of dollars in initial equipment.

With DSL and cable out of reach and satellite service prohibitively expensive, Doris, Debbie and Alan are out of options. There are many more like them, and right now their prospects for future service are slim:

"There is a large group of (Internet) users in Oklahoma who have no high-speed access," said Doris G., who lives near Lake Tenkiller, in an e-mail note. "When friends and family members . . . inquire of AT&T about future service, they are consistently told 'soon' -- and they have been told that for years."

These three Oklahomans illustrate that the demand for high speed internet exists. As Alan noted,

"My conclusion (is) the biggest hurdle of converting dial-up users to broadband (is) the providers making the option available. Once the user sees the limitations of dial-up or their need for service changes, the logical choice becomes apparent; however, if there is no choice available the user is left reading analyst after analyst bemoaning the state of the industry in stagnation over the number of broadband users."

Digital divide: High-speed 'Net access far from universal (Tulsa World)