Letter to the Editor

It's 2010 and reader still living in the dark ages of the Internet

Sunday, April 11, 2010

To the Editor:

For the past 10 years or better that I have been using the Internet, I have been limited to either dial up or satellite Internet.

For about that long, I have been checking and rechecking for broadband service in my area, always with the promise that the IP's were currently expanding their service area and that they would notify me when service became available.

That day has never come. And if that's not annoying enough, I know that my neighbors, just a mile away in Harmony, have the option of DSL and I believe cable.

A mile away in Benwood, they have cable.

Yet, I live right next to an elementary school.

I would figure high speed Internet would be somewhat of a priority for the school to have.

Right now, I am limited to dial up, a dated technology that is frustratingly slow and pretty much worthless for today's Internet.

Wireless cards, which are not only expensive, but require a contract, and greatly limit your usage.

And of course, my arch nemesis, satellite DSL. I'm paying $70 a month for service that is slightly faster than dial up, but not anywhere near as reliable.

If it rains, I have no connection. If I download more than they allow, they enable FAP or Fair Access Policy. It slows my connection to slower than dial up speeds.

So if I want to update my iphone firmware, or download a video from a friend, I am out of luck for the day.

And worst of all, signal latency. It makes video conferencing online gaming and voice over Internet useless and very frustrating.

What's more frustrating is that a few friends of mine that live in areas that are way more remote than mine, have fiber optic service.

For where I live, I can't figure out why broadband is unavailable.

It is 2010, I would think by now that only the most remote areas would have this problem.

Daren Siverly,

Brazil