September 30, 2024
Growing Pains: Forget Bread and Water, Broadband May Be the Key to Surviving the Future
By Gina Horan
Growing Pains: Forget Bread and Water, Broadband May Be the Key to Surviving the Future
The saying “man shall not live by bread alone” has been around since biblical times, but in the modern era, how we think about our basic needs may require a reboot.
Humans still need bread, water and shelter to survive, but as we prepare to hit the quarter century mark of another millennium, it seems pretty clear that without broadband, our chances of survival in the modern world are a bit precarious.
Take this past summer. A glitch from the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike produced a technological meltdown that left employees of airlines, banks, hospitals and emergency services around the world staring at the dreaded “blue screen of death” as their computers went inert.
While this was apparently an anomaly, the crisis proved that the Internet runs much of our lives, not just to salve our addiction to social media algorithms and click-bait, but for more vital reasons. Real threats to our health and security depend on fiber optics, connectivity and funding, especially with growth and population expansion.
In Sumter County, federal, state and local government officials have been acutely aware of this challenge and have addressed the issue through funding and legislation.
Many small towns and unincorporated areas in the county have received funds through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Along with state and other funds, more than 3,000 properties in Webster, Lake Panasoffkee and Tillman Hammock were supported. Nearly 127 miles of fiber optic cable was added to Bushnell, and the unincorporated areas of Croom-A-Coochee, Lake Panasoffkee, Linden, Tarrytown and also in The Villages.
Another boost to local broadband came by means of the E-Bridge Act. The bill was co-sponsored last March by U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Dist. 11) and passed the House and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support.
Rep. Webster says he wants to make sure that efforts to achieve this goal do not harm existing rural broadband providers, which are often small businesses and have spent considerable capital trying to reach these communities, often in creative ways.
The congressman also notes that the increase in rural broadband will help attract new businesses, strengthen healthcare systems and assist in delivery of medical care to vulnerable populations. It will also lay the groundwork for economic recovery and prepare communities for future disasters.
“The goal is to provide access to telehealth along with educational and workforce development opportunities to offer a better future,” he says.
Sumter County Economic Development Director Kristy Russell says that contracts with companies also help improve the rural broadband deficit.
“We appreciate working with Spectrum and Charter on the broadband expansion project in Sumter County,” Kristy says. “Broadband is a vital resource for work, learning and personal connections so together we’re building a high-speed, high-capacity network in Sumter County that will bring gigabit internet to more than a thousand homes and small businesses.”
While Lake County was not a beneficiary of federal or state funding for broadband, a public survey was launched in late 2022 to gather feedback from county residents and other stakeholders. The results reflected that Lake County had the same needs as other counties, which echoed what officials had been saying for years.
Lake County Public Information Officer Sarah Lux explains, “Broadband services play a crucial role in keeping communities connected and informed. Access to reliable internet is important for all residents, regardless of where they live or their income level.”
Lake County officials understand that these services are increasingly important and foresee future expansion.
A broadband feasibility study conducted by Magellan Advisors identified 24 potential project areas in the county in which 7,255 households are unserved.
The review also found that the infrastructure across Lake County consists of legacy DSL services that could become obsolete within the next decade. A majority of residents say that their need for higher bandwidth has increased significantly since the pandemic. More than half the respondents have experienced daily slowdowns in internet speed.
Thankfully, there is notable progress being made for this potential project and room for several federal and state funding programs to build out broadband networks for Lake County.
Gina moved to central Florida in August of 2021 from the San Francisco Bay Area. She has a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics and spent 10 years as a fashion editor, columnist and food writer for The Knight Ridder Newspaper group. She was also a photo stylist and covered concerts, fashion shows and festivals all over Northern California. In 2000, she joined KSAN radio as a morning show co-host and produced the news and sports content there for 4 years. She also covered travel, events and the restaurant scene for KRON-Bay TV. She is a veteran bartender and has worked in hospitality on and off since high school. Her passions include travel, road trips, history books, baseball, tasting menus and most of all, landing in a new city with no map or guidebook. Gina lives in Oxford with her mom, cats and baby hamster.
