Partnership maps gaps in broadband

By Bryan Gentry

Published: June 21, 2008

Officials at Virginia’s Region 2000 partnership are keeping an eye on where high-speed Internet access is available.

And, almost more important to them, where broadband is not.

The partnership’s Local Government Council recently studied broadband Internet providers in the region and their coverage areas.

They found 16 broadband service providers in the region. The list includes several small companies that are fixing potholes in the Information Highway through rural Virginia.

“A lot of people think about the big guys,” said Brandon Turner, the Region 2000 intern who conducted the study. “But there are little guys with a lot of coverage here.”

The small carriers include several wireless companies like GNS Networks, which is spreading broadband access into rural parts of Appomattox County.

Dennis Hunt, who has worked in networking for more than 10 years, said he started the wireless service because he felt the WiMAX Internet service in Appomattox, launched in January by Digital Bridge Communications, didn’t cover the right areas.

“When they started, they were going to be just (in town), basically the same place that JetBroadband (cable) was,” Hunt said. “I said that’s not going to help people in the rural areas.”

In February, GNS networks put up its first antenna. Right now, its service reaches north of Appomattox to Oakville.

Hunt has had other towers approved by the county and plans to expand service to the Stonewall area and Pamplin.

He said he’s trying to complement, not compete with, other providers, focusing on areas they don’t cover.

“I’m trying to really go where the others just didn’t feel it was financially worthy of their time.”

Other wireless providers include Pure Internet, which boasts wireless availability anywhere close to the main water tower in Brookneal, and B2X Online, which provides a signal in the areas of Smith Mountain Lake, Moneta and Huddleston, according to its Web site.

The providers also include Central Virginia Electric Cooperative, which is working to expand broadband access using power lines in northern Amherst County and Nelson County.

The region also has access to several satellite Internet providers, phone and cable companies for DSL, fiber or cable broadband.

Turner, a graduate of Lynchburg College’s Master of Business Administration program, researched the companies’ coverage areas to help create maps to show where broadband exists and where gaps are.

Green shading on the maps indicates broadband is likely available, though terrain and old wire can limit access in some regions.

But Region 2000’s leaders are taking more interest in the white areas on the map, the “no man’s lands” of broadband.

The white areas include swaths of land across northwestern Amherst and Bedford counties and a large region east of the town of Appomattox.

Most of the rural areas between Rustburg and Brookneal in Campbell County are without broadband, too.

“If there is a white area on that map, there’s nothing there except non-traditional broadband” like satellite service, Turner said. “If you live out in Big Island and you want broadband, you can get it if you’re willing to shell out the money for it.”

Satellite broadband service in the region costs $50 to $200 per month, according to the report.

Bryan David, executive director of the Economic Development Council, said finding the gaps in coverage “starts us down the road of how we can promote private investment to get service to the areas.”

The study is not complete yet. Turner has only begun to research EVDO, an emerging technology provided by cell phone companies. It will make broadband available basically wherever a cellular signal is.

Region 2000 plans to post the study on its Web site when the final study is complete.