It has been difficult working in Madison County in the Internet era. First, we only had dial-up, which was very, very slow. Then, we got satellite, which was a little faster, and worked as long as the sky wasn’t overcast. Now, we have a T1 line that blinks on and off. We came to expect it to be out one day a week, and knew business calls could fall off at any moment.
Now, the federal government will help matters by giving $1.8 million to the French Broad EMC for Internet provision. The moral of the story is, if you’ve been struggling to provide Internet to customers in a difficult and sparsely-populated terrain, give it up. Government will handle things from now on.
