ANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor Martin O’Malley issued this statement today following the announcement that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has awarded a $2 million to the State of Maryland. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds will expand access to broadband and provide for improved data collection and broadband mapping.
“I want to thank the entire Maryland Congressional delegation for these funds, which will not only expand access to broadband throughout our state, but will in turn expand economic development, create jobs, increase our capacity to provide public safety and health services, and improve the strength of our small business community and our family-owned farms.
“These funds will allow for better, more accurate mapping of broadband in Maryland, which is consistent with our efforts to track Maryland’s progress using innovative, GIS mapping technology.
“This is a major step toward improving the quality of life for our residents, and we are thankful to the U.S. Department of Commerce and the NTIA for this grant.”
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These grants are a waste of money. It always seems to go towards building backbone, but there is plenty of backbone on the shore. What we need is LAST MILE service to the home or business property in RURAL areas.
ReplyDeleteVerizon will only upgrade their crap, 50+ year old phone lines where Comcast threatens them. Comcast won't build cable services to rural homes because the density isn't there to justify the costs, which are somewhere around $5 per foot of cable.
We pay federal taxes (including surcharges and fees) to subsidize the building of telephone service. But there are plenty of areas where the cable is so old and deteriorated that it can barely pass voice traffic, let alone data. Yet, Verizon, in their monopoly status, has no desire to replace these lines. I'm sure that they are in the same boat with Comcast with similar prices, but as a protected monopoly they should be forced to upgrade these areas.
And for those who think that there is real competition in the telco market, realize that Verizon is the only company with LAST MILE capabilities. For decades we have subsidized their infrastructure. To have another company provide DSL service to a market, they must rent, from Verizon, the space and the lines to get their service to your house. Any technical problems, and they must get a Verizon tech to do the work for them. So in the end, Verizon is in total control over your prices and the level of service that you get from any possible competition. It's a load of crap.
This leaves wireless as our best last-mile technology. Either 3G service or WiMax.
3G is a joke. It's not very fast, coverage is spotty, and it's expensive between the 5GB cap per month and the huge overage charges.
The Lower Shore Wireless Broadband Co-op has done little to provide any last mile service. Their crappy pay to installers has led to bad install jobs by underqualified people, and lack of technical expertise has caused them to stumble badly. It looks like they will fail to make the necessary penetration into the market to be profitable.
Rather than give government grants where there is no penalty for underperformance, the government should provide loans that are personally guaranteed to capitalists. Only then will there be enough incentive for people to produce in a manner worthy of receiving taxpayer dollars.
Good or bad it's just something else our government cannot afford right now. With trillion dollar deficets, we have more problems than no broadband. I say if Verizon offers it "good", if they don't and some other company can "good", but if the government gets involved you can bet it will be a waste of money and help no-one. We are rapidly approching bankruptcy and at that time broadband will be irrelavant because no-one will be able to afford it at any price.
ReplyDeleteYes,
ReplyDeleteIt is very sad...
We let the giant corporations pay themsleves huge salaries, we let them have the surcharges for building infastructure, we let them build FIOS networks on the Western Shore, then layoff the work crews, when no one can afford the FIOS service not truly necessary to phone or internet services. Then after he got his huge bonus, thier CEO tells us "I dont want to be a phone company anymore. I want to be an entertainmnet company now"
So Sad, the jokes on us. We pay top dollar for crappy service. We dont get expanding networks because the CEO doesnt want to be a phone company anymore. That is not ENTERTAINING! WE cant even kick him out of office. He was not elected by the people he rips off everyday! Score one for capitalism at its finest- stuck on Momma' government's tit, sucking us all dry!