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Why is it that Gainesville has become so lax on its stance to obtain more fiber optics to our city and county infrastructure? I always love seeing articles in The Times that talk about how some person of importance (or lack thereof) is supposed to stop by and shake some babies and kiss some hands in order to gain public interest in increasing our state infrastructure of high-speed Internet. "What Internet?" I always ask.
For as long as I can remember, I have not noticed a major increase in pipage speed or higher demand in expanding the overall infrastructure of our great city's network.
Why? I suppose that we have all forgotten that, just like the value of a dollar today being worth more than a dollar 20 years from now, the infrastructure we build today will directly impact any maintenance and upgrades we support in the future. It must begin now before it becomes too late.
Soon we will see that hick towns outside of Hall County with a population less than 25 percent of ours have a better high speed infrastructure than our own. What would this mean? It will mean that 20 years from now, children will not be using the same technology as those of other, more tech-savvy cities, but rather will be using the same good old fashioned "bootlegged" technology that has been around North Georgia for more than two decades.
Has anyone heard of Google? It's only one of the most politically powerful technology companies, and only a very select few who actually act in the best interests of its users. Google asked for feedback from everyone in the U. S. (including Alaska and Hawaii) about who wants or needs a new infrastructure for their high-speed networks in their respective towns.
The results? Surprisingly enough, Gainesville responded not one time. In fact, our town is not even on the list of interested cities for their pet project of receiving a taxpayer-free high-speed network (providing speeds up to 100 times faster than those speeds we are currently used to). One gigabyte per second, to be exact.
I urge everyone to write members of Congress and notify them of the slack job done by corporations providing our current high-speed networks in Gainesville. Let them know the time is now for action. Find people interested in investing in a Gainesville public service for high-speed, fiber-optic network, and I will guarantee that we will all find ourselves with much more gratification than just paying another $42.95 a month for DSL technology that is outdated by at least 10 years.
Our costs will decrease, and our benefits will be instant, more secure, and our future will be much brighter.
Did I mention the fact that creating a public service of such proportions could bring about another 2,500 to 5,000 jobs for Hall County? Just something to reflect on.
Steven Ellis
Gainesville