Build Broadband and They Will Come? Not Without Great Marketing!

I’m pretty sure there were a lot of millionaires – well people whose broadband grant applications scored millions of dollars – who woke up one day after they got their award letter and said, “Crap! We promised to do what!?

Of course, there are a greater number of people who wake up many days whose applications didn’t win money from Uncle Sam or Cousin Google and say, “Crap! How the hell are we gonna do that!?

For both camps, I’ll repeat the slogan I printed on my first business cards while I was still at Cal Berkeley: The great thing about marketing is…it works.

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Day 58 – N. Carolina Broadband Battle’s Toll on Private Business

Another vote looms in another NC legislative committee that appears to be on the verge of pushing anti-muni network bill H129 a little further down the line. It’s time to rally one more effort to get on legislators’ phones and e-mail boxes. In particular, we need to involve those broadband supporters who haven’t had time to make a call yet, or are feeling just a little shy about getting on the phones.

It may be easier to get first timers to take a public step to help kill the bill if we reinforce the fact that the lack of effective broadband affects plenty of neighbors, friends and just regular folks throughout the state you don’t know, but who share the distinction of being Carolinians. Broadband is just technology, kind of cold and impersonal. But the lack of broadband that this bill will ensure has significant personal and local business consequences.

A letter was forwarded to me from Michelle Kempinski of Cedar Grove, NC who wrote to our group that’s fighting Time Warner et al tooth and nail on a daily basis. It paints a very clear picture of why we must continue this fight for as long as it takes.

Don’t Ignore Urban Communities in the Broadband Infrastructure Mix

Conventional wisdom that appears to be driving broadband policymakers, media coverage and funding is that rural areas need infrastructure and urban areas just need to figure out how to get more people using (buying) the infrastructure that exists. Hmm, maybe not.

Plenty of urban areas, similar to their rural kith and kin, need new, better infrastructure. Incumbents like to tell us that low-income communities are well covered by broadband because there are retail stores all over town where people can buy a cell phone and service. Cable service is “available” everywhere because TV ads blanket metro areas. This argument only holds water if you don’t look close enough to realize that bucket’s full of holes.