I think North Dakota has the ultimate set up for a perfect internet infrastructure. At this point we have something called the STAGEnet system. You can read all about it but the basic idea of it is a statewide network. At this point it consists of a 2.5 gigabit fiber optic network that connects every public school and government building.
At this point we are paying taxes here in ND to keep the STAGEnet system up and running. I think we could easily make this system into a public internet for the whole state. Pay a little extra taxes to get it to everyone and we now have an excellent resource. Let me tell you, this needs to be done soon. At this point many people in the state either do not see the advantage of broadband or do not have broadband available to them.
I think the next step would be to hook the STAGEnet system into the current TV broadcast infrastucture. With this system you could create a publicly available wireless internet. From this point we could then use wireless IP phones and all said and told North Dakota would become a geek haven.
Of course I see the a few problems with this wonderfully amazing idea. The first is of course our state is run by a bunch of really old people. These people have not quite figured out the concept of the internet. Also we all know about the Greenlight situation and how ISP's are just plain bullies.
So what do you think? Do you think a publicly funded ISP is a horrible idea? Do you now want to move to ND and help me lobby the idea? Tell me in the comments!
5 comments:
Anything run by a government or public system will be horrible. Without competition, or a negative consequence for poor service or performance, the ISP's reliability and speed and cost to the taxpayer will be off the charts. In addition, you're forcing that old grandmother who doesn't need the Internet to pay for your service.
Government shouldn't do anything other than protect liberties.
I had a long, rambling response to this typed out, but opted for this short and sweet version.
I don't even like the government running our postal service. It's bloated, inefficient, and losing business to the private sector.
Nothing at this point convinces me that the government could run our ISP service any better than private entities. Companies like Ed Schaffer's Contact America are trying hard to get broadband available to every corner of the state. Let's use entrepreneurial spirit like that to make this happen, maybe with some financial assistance from govt, but better yet, with govt. staying the hell out of the way.
Intriguing idea, but I would like to review a more detailed plan before putting support behind the idea. Excellent job of looking for a solution to a real problem, though.
Oh yeah, saw this the other day about Monticello, MN. They tried to lay their own fiber network, the telcos defended their territory, and sued, won, then got their victory overturned.
It's still in litigation.
Here's the story.
It is a beautiful idea for everyone to have access to the internet because it has become such a large portion of everyone's day to day life, but an idea like that i think i would trust more in the hands of google. But even then serious questions do arise.
I like your idea. Here in Canada, government water, sewage, electricity (where I am in Quebec), health care, education, and the national park system are well-run and affordable. Why not internet service? We have our problems, but the belief that the private sector is the paragon of efficiency is not as strong here as south of the border. There are other ways to maintain accountability without turning every institution in a gang of private tyrannies in competition with each other.
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