From the City to the Country: The Gaping Wound Called Broadband

My old roots and new roots in startling agreeance.

Internet Fantasy

Broadband internet doesn’t exist in my parents’ world. It’s an item of fantasy, like Aladdin’s lamp but without a limited use clause. Eight years ago, without much of a choice, I tolerated the 30 kb/s download speeds of rural DSL in the absolute corner of Northwest Minnesota. The transfer rate beat the criminally slow dial-up offerings my family formerly experienced, and I couldn’t exactly procure a connection equivalent to my high school’s T1, or what felt like a T1 by comparison. The situation annoyed my brother and I, mainly because our “ping,” the speed at which our computer connected to online games, lagged far behind others. The higher the number, the greater delay between button input and seeing the game reflect the action. Ours sat at the mid 300s, others lingered around the low 100s. Minimizing the delay, or “lag,” was our only reason for wanting faster internet.

I’m writing this on Saturday, November 28, 2009, and, despite the eight year difference, internet download speeds remain unchanged at my parents’ home. An entire day’s worth of bandwidth was spent downloading a 313mb file. At my apartment in Minneapolis, my cable connection would’ve devoured the same file in minutes and then asked “what’s next?” Here, I can almost hear the coughing and wheezing of the DSL modem struggling to provide its meager archaic speeds. If the inanimate object could hear me, I’d say “Don’t worry old girl (or guy). It’s not your fault my parents live in an area where expanding real broadband service isn’t in the internet service provider’s best financial interests.” But, of course, the company is interested in charging my parents a monthly connection fee equal to the one Comcast lays on me ($36 a month for 15 mb download speeds). In rural ISP‘s defense, Comcast delivered a nice six month deal when I threatened to switch provider (I wasn’t lying). Service used to cost $50+ a month. I’m unsure on the exact amount. I’ve tried to block it out. The paying-too-much-for-internet wound’s still fresh.

But payment aside, I relish high media accessibility. Nearly every day, I check one of my various email accounts using my phone, play World of Warcraft, listen to internet radio or podcasts, watch television shows or movies on Hulu and Netflix, or download media legally via some digital distribution service. Sometimes I engage in any number of the aforementioned simultaneously. This is just what I do with the internet. It comes as natural to me as riding a bike and feels as vital as food. Call it mental food if you want.

Mr. Obama Gets Me

The Obama administration understands, and have compared today’s need for high speed, high capacity broadband internet to the need and proliferation of electricity and telephone services in the 1930s. The administration’s ready to do more than talk about the problem, and have plans to pour $8 billion into the construction of new broadband networks across the nation. If all goes according to plan, all grants will be awarded by Sept. 30, 2010, and the massive project will be “mostly complete” within two years. I’m hopeful everything will go according to plan, but I’m also hopeful of one day winning the Powerball.

The great American broadband expansion didn’t stem from a national desire to watch Family Guy, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Modern Family on Hulu. More jobs become available to those with broadband. Acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Michael Copps, said “Without ubiquitous broadband, our citizens – our country – will lack the competitive tools necessary for success in the 21st century.” He’s right, and a woman named J.T. Burnett would probably concur. In an article originally from the Beaumont Enterprise, writer Kyle Peveto explained Burnett found the “perfect stay-at-home job transcribing medical records via the internet.” The only problem was her home, five miles outside of town, didn’t and couldn’t have the necessary high-speed connection. Showing exemplary initiative, the 32 year old Burnett decided to rent a storefront east of the town square where she could access broadband. Four days a week, she now types at her computer, making money “from home.” She also makes and sells candles from her store, and even makes a little bit of money from a dog grooming business. The former, she says, could not exist without its website TheWaxWagon.com. “From my own experience,” she adds, “I think if the capabilities were available to rural areas, (the Internet) could do great things. It’s already done great things for our town.”

Broadband internet enables greater access to jobs and media. Got it? Good. Now back to my long weekend without my usual accessibility…

Slow Internet, Destroyer of Instant Messaging Culture

If someone shared a YouTube link with me via instant messaging service, I had to open the video and immediately pause it. Two to five minutes later I could watch it. Buffering took that long. The experience was painful, if only for the social element. Tossing links back and forth to communicate a point, or just to share for the shock value, is something my friends and I do regularly. Think of the shared experience of watching America’s Funniest Home Videos with other people, but in bite-size chunks, and without a major television network deciding what you can and can’t watch and when. YouTube’s role is kind of like that during my online social interaction. Immediacy’s key. If I’m late to a video, I might miss the poignancy of a remark or an entire conversational subject. And I did. To avoid these mishaps, I momentarily altered the way I communicated online. I felt restrained, or paralyzed, and I really didn’t like it.

Slave to Programming

Similarly, since the connection didn’t allow for me to open a window in the upper right corner of my screen and constantly steam Hulu or Netflix (like I do at my apartment in Minneapolis), a media void began to surface. I needed to consume digital video. Left with only one option, I became a slave to DirecTV‘s satellite programming. Instead of control, as I would have with streaming video on my PC, I had a choice over what I wanted to watch. The change felt wrong. The viewer, me, should never have a prolonged viewing experience dictated by scheduled programming. This teaches people to either settle for what they’re given or get off the train. The experience is furthermore soured when passengers who’ve already paid for their monthly subscription decide “there’s nothing on.”

Traditional Media Molds More in Rural Areas

Normally I’d cuss up a storm and do something different, but I really wanted to watch something; anything. I checked out the HBOs. Nothing was on that I hadn’t seen before. I checked out Showtime and Cinemax. The same overplayed films lie their as well, waiting to be blasted out of their misery. And finally settled for a few hours on the Travel Channel and the various “let’s go around the world, meet people, and eat crazy things” shows (for the record, Anthony Bourdaine > Andrew Zimmern). During commercials, I flipped through the music stations, fuse, MTV, VH1, and BET,  and came to a startling conclusion: old, or traditional, media, such as satellite TV, potentially wields more culture-molding power in these broadband-less areas than anywhere else in the nation. In some cases, they might even be the life support. What then will happen in two years when broadband’s reach extends to rural areas where the youth are more defined by “music television” than elsewhere? Also, what will happen when the entire U.S. can give DirecTV the finger and embrace control?

When I told my mom of the many ways in which I experience media, she looked shocked, as if I had told her of a fantastical run-in I had with Cthulhu at the office, (he, a family man, got off early and decided to pick up his wife). The combination of immediacy and control was too unbelievable to be true. After spending the long Thanksgiving weekend up north, I completely understand her response. Broadband’s like magic if you’re stuck as a rural muggle.