…a competitive South Korean ISP market has led to exceptional service levels for end users. In the city of Cheongju, average internet speeds to citizens of 124 Mbps are standard. Further, 1Gbps internet plans are available in South Korea for just $20 USD.
— from the FastMetrics.com website
The Great Continental Divide runs through the middle of Colorado. On one side, the rivers tend to drain towards the East Coast of the US. That is, towards New York and Washington DC. On the other side, the rivers run towards California.
The one side is not “better” than the other side. They only go in different directions.
We also have a Great Divide in terms of communications technology, but the division is not so much East Coast vs. West Coast. More like, Big City vs. Small Town. I don’t yet have a deep understanding of high-speed Internet and whether it’s truly a benefit to a rural community like Pagosa Springs. Many of our government leaders seem to sincerely believe the benefits are real, although they may not understand the issue any better than I do. Belief is a powerful thing, even in the absence of evidence.
The information (or propaganda) coming from Washington DC, and especially from the Federal Communications Commission, might cause some to think that high-speed Internet is just as important to our economic well-being as clean drinking water. We can easily believe that high-speed Internet is essential to making America great, again.
I’m not sure how accurate the follow map might be, but it’s certainly colorful and thought-provoking. I found it using a Google search; took me less than a minute to find it (on the FastMetric.com website) and less than a minute to insert it into this Daily Post editorial.
The map above is based on data generated by one of the world’s largest web tech companies, Akamai Technologies. The countries with the fastest Internet speeds are generally located in Asia (South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan) or in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark.) The countries with the slowest average speeds are typically found in Africa, South America, and the Middle East.
In 2017, the US (as a whole) clocked in close to the top, with an national average of about 14 Mbps (Mega bits per second) — half the speed of South Korea’s average of 27 Mbps.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wants to see an America where average download speeds, everywhere, are closer to 25 Mbps. This is the speed defined by the FCC as “Broadband.” If you live in Washington DC, you already live in an area with average 25 Mbps Broadband. Here in Colorado, the statewide average is more like 15 Mbps. But that number is partly driven by how much people want to pay for Broadband.
Even in an area with a high “average” there are plenty of customers with relatively slow Internet connections. Location matters, and so does the family (or business) budget.
Here in Archuleta County, Skywerx Internet Services offers 25 Mbps to your home, for $89.99 a month, and 50 Mbps for $99.99. A 25 Mbps business account will run you $99.99 per month. Skywerx is not available everywhere in the county, however.
USA Communications can provide 30 Mbps to your home for $52.95 per month, and 100 Mbps for $92.95. Like Skywerx, USA Communications is not available everywhere in the county.
At the October 23 joint meeting of the Town Council and Board of County Commissioners, Jason Cox — business owner and former chair of the non-profit Community Development Corporation (CDC) — urged the gathered government leaders to put a sizable dollar amount into their 2019 budgets, to help fund an ambitious tax-funded Broadband program in Archuleta County. The suggested dollar amount was $100,000 from each government budget. As we mentioned before, Mr. Cox presented almost no detailed information about how the money would be spent, but he was enthusiastic about some very general ideas.
If you’re lucky and you live reasonably close to downtown Pagosa Springs or uptown Pagosa Springs, you can probably already find an Internet Service Provider (ISP) willing to provide you with 25 Mbps service.
If you live in Aspen Springs, however, you’re probably out of luck. (But of course, if you live in Aspen Springs, you don’t even have municipal running water.)
During Mr. Cox’ joint meeting presentation, the question about ‘ubiquity’ reared its ugly head. Is it the intention of the CDC and our local governments to make 25/3 Internet affordable only in the downtown and uptown areas? Or is it their intention make 25/3 Internet available everywhere in Archuleta County — but maybe not affordable?
Those are two very different questions.
County Commissioner Michael Whiting, spoke during the joint meeting, and expressed some of his beliefs. Commissioner Whiting has been part of the CDC Broadband planning group for the past couple of years, and may have a better understanding of the issue than I have.
“Our Broadband group can reach out to staff and suggest placeholder amounts in our budgets, for this purpose… and that will give [the elected leaders] time to get up to speed on the details we need to understand in order to say ‘Yes’ to this proposal.”
The Town’s proposed budget, as presented on October 2, already has a $100,000 placeholder amount included, with half coming from General Fund and half coming from Capital Improvements.
The County’s proposed budget has a $100,000 line item called “Economic Development.” That might be a placeholder, or maybe not. I haven’t asked that question yet.
But before we close Part Two, I’d like to share another map. The map at the beginning of this editorial, based on Akamai Technologies data, showed the average speed of Internet services in various countries around the globe. Another map, also created by Akamai, shows the number of criminal “attacks” on business and home computer systems in various countries.
According to this data, American internet users are subject to more than 20 million criminal attacks per hour. That suggests that, between this morning’s breakfast and bedtime, we — as a nation — will experience one criminal attack for every man, woman and child.
Presumably, higher speed Internet will make those attacks even more convenient?
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.