Today's Internet is haunted by the same forces that have tried to restrict communications for more than 100 years. Wally Bowen describes the haunted history of the FCC.

There are 2,200 applications seeking a piece of the first $4 billion in stimulus money set aside to speed high-speed internet connections to rural communities and other neighborhoods with poor access. The applications contain $28 billion in requests, reports Joelle Tessler, and promise all kinds of development, jobs and new economic opportunities. Tessler reviews four of these applications to give a taste of the kind of projects being planned. 

For instance, the local cable company has pulled out of the Coeur d'Alene tribal reservation (which is about half the size of Rhode Island) and Verizon offers DSL to just a small part of the rez. So the tribe is asking for $12.2 million to run fiber-optic lines that would connect 3,500 homes on one side of the reservation. The tribe has a wireless network, but it's not particularly fast and it's expensive ($100 a month). The tribe says a fiber network would give its members fast access to courses and medical care.

A group in western North Carolina is asking for $2.5 million to extend its wireless network. In Graham County, the library and community college have high speed access, but Tessler reports that budget cuts have restricted the hours those computers are available. The group (Mountain Area Information Network) is hooking its wireless networks into a new fiber network. Oh, and the group would use the stimulus money to Mount Mitchell State Park, the highest point east of the Mississippi River. (Observation deck on mountain's top above.)

Here's a serious reason you need a broadband connection in Minnesota: If you can't connect to the state website, you can't buy a fishing license. And if you don't have a license, you can't fish! The Minnesota Post's reporter Sharon Schmickle writes about the need for broadband access in remote areas of the state. She goes to Cook County (above), where residents will vote soon on a sales tax to fund, among other development projects, a fiber optic network. "The plan is to make high-speed Internet access, cable TV, and telephone service available to every home and business," Schmickle writes.

Cook County is applying for federal broadband money, arguing that slow, dialup connections are hurting local businesses. A realtor says he lost a sale to some doctors at the Mayo Clinic when the buyers learned they would have to rely on satellite connection to the Internet. "The business community in Cook County desperately needs broadband," the application said. 

This is an interesting story because it collects on-the-ground information about what small communities are doing. Windom (pop. 4,490) is one of the first cities to provide fiber-to-the-home service. In Monticello, however, a similar project has been blocked by an incumbent provider, the local telephone service. The city and the telephone company are now in court.

You can now see who in your community has applied for broadband money from the stimulus fund. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has put a summary of all 2200 applications on line. You can find a searchable list here.  You can look at all the applications here.  These are the applications for NTIA's share of the $7.2 billion in stimulus money meant to spread broadband into unserved areas, particularly in rural communities. In all, the applications ask for $28 billion.

Telecompetitor.com has gone through the applications and has made several observations.  Like, "Rural telco last mile applications appear to be heavily weighted toward FTTH" (as in Fiber To The Home). "There are a significant number of companies intending to use broadband wireless for last mile access...."

Telecompetitor also notes that Hughs Net wants $500 million to expand its satellite coverage. (There are several satellite proposals.) Rural phone carriers made applications, but CivSource finds that "Noticeably absent among the applicants were major telecommunications carriers, like AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. Some of the largest telecoms to file applications were Hughes Networks, Level 3 and EchoStar."