Ellington

Being on the campus of a major public university has many privileges. From free food to cheap public transit, college students have it pretty good in many respects. One of the benefits many take for granted is high-speed Internet. You would be hard-pressed to find a dial-up modem at the UW. The lightning-fast broadband service we have come to expect on campus is the exception, not the rule, for the majority of U.S. Internet users.

Recent data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) highlights this problem. Last summer, the United States ranked 15th out of 30 developed nations in broadband penetration. We ranked lower than broadband leaders such as Denmark, Switzerland and Korea.

Even our friendly neighbors up north in Canada beat us in providing broadband to their citizens.

Broadband availability is only part of the problem. Current U.S. broadband technology is nearly a generation behind in satisfying predicted demand. EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit that promotes the use of information technology to advance higher education, recently released a report indicating that we will need a minimum of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) connection speed within three to five years. Compare that to the current 1 to 10 Mbps speed of current broadband service. The popularity of high bandwidth services such as MySpace and YouTube have driven demand for high-speed connections.

Copper wire technologies, such as DSL and cable broadband, are unlikely to be able to meet this demand. The most viable option is fiber optic technology, which is regularly used for major Internet hubs and connections. Once again, the United States lags behind other countries in expanding its fiber optic connections. OECD data shows that the United States ranks seventh in fiber optic penetration, behind leaders such as Korea and Japan.

So why are countries such as Korea, Japan and Denmark leading the pack in broadband adoption and technologies? One big reason is that they have instituted public programs for the development and implementation of broadband service for their citizens.

The government is better than private markets in spreading and developing broadband service because high-speed Internet is a positive externality. The benefits of high-speed connections accrue to the public, but private individuals pay the costs. The result is the current situation.

EDUCAUSE has suggested a reasonable solution. It estimates that it will cost $100 billion to provide a fiber optic connection to every home and business in the United States. Implementing a program similar to Canada’s, where the price is split equally between the federal government, state government and private sector, could minimize the cost to the public. The price for the federal government would be approximately $8 billion per year for four years. That is pretty close to the $7.2 billion allocated for broadband expansion in the recent stimulus package.

High-speed Internet is rapidly changing from a luxury to a necessity. The Internet is being used for more than entertainment. It is a repository of knowledge, a sales portal, a method of telecommuting and a forum for discussion and debate. The list of applications is endless, but some of those capabilities are at risk of being restricted due to slow connection speeds. Its time we made a concerted effort to extend broadband to all Americans.

Reach columnist Mike Noon at opinion@dailyuw.com.