Maybe I'm sensitive or easily put off but the last Newsletter that we received from the Connect Ohio division of CN had me "almost" confront the CN coordinator at the meeting. I know that the mission is to provide broadband to EVERYONE and that includes those who can already afford access, (?) but every newsletter I get seems to be pandering to who they are getting their money from and doesn't have much to do with providing broadband in rural areas. (Many examples of AT&T big shots in photo ops with state and local politicians donating PC's to schools and similar activities)
Here is the word for word front page article in their newsletter. This alone caused me to rethink any participation in their "efforts" or lack of. ( Link is here http://www.connectohio.org/ ) How broadband changed my life I am a 48-year-old married mother of four with what you can imagine is a very busy life. My husband and I enjoy traveling, collecting and showing vintage cars, spending time at our cottage on Lake Erie and sailing. Our children range in age from 17 to 22, and we are currently hosting a 17-year-old exchange student from Brazil. Broadband has had two major influences on my life: 1. It has allowed me to log on to my work network from anywhere. I can work from home or check e-mails from the cottage. No longer am I tethered to my desk at work in order to get work done. 2. It has allowed me to further my education. I have recently gone back to school to obtain my master's degree in Management Information Technology. With my busy lifestyle, there is no way I could have realized this dream if I had to attend classes at a bricks and mortar school. The speed and convenience of broadband allows me to take all of my courses online, from anywhere. Uh..... Here's my keywords in this. Vintage cars (plural) Cottage on Lake Erie, sailing, exchange student, Masters Degree in Information Technology. If I had to guess I would say that this person probably already had broadband before CN came along in one form or another and from the way it reads where she can go anyplace and be online, sounds like a wireless card from a cell company. Where is the relevance in this to what we are trying to accomplish? Just sounded like they were spotlighting someone that the people in charge could identify with instead of the single unemployed mother in rural Appalachia who is now able to sell her recipes or quilts or whatever to a world market...blah, blah, blah. A REAL change in someone's life, not just so some well to do middle aged educational tech coordinator can check her email while riding in one of their vintage cars or in the sail boat.... Sheeeesh. "Look, look! We helped your sister and now she can get her email while relaxing at the cottage on the lake after a long day of sailing!" Makes me sick. Bob- -----Original Message----- From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Chuck Hogg Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 6:59 AM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Connected Nation I think once you have been doing it at least 2 years, you will begin to have a change of heart. We were in our infant stage. We begged for help and cooperation on helping us get access to multiple locations. They essentially said, "Good luck!". All they did for us was cheerlead across KY about how to bridge the technology gaps. We had to get almost every independent ISP in KY to let the government know how bad they were doing. They mapped areas of potential for cable/dsl co's and pushed WildBlue like it was going out of style. Regards, Chuck Hogg Shelby Broadband 502-722-9292 ch...@shelbybb.com http://www.shelbybb.com -----Original Message----- From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of David Hannum Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 12:16 AM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Connected Nation I'm not sure I've ever posted to the list here before. But I have to chime in on this. While New Era Broadband is a fledgling in the WISP arena, we owe our existence to Connect Ohio, especially their wireless guys Chip Spann and Layne Wagner. I've read everything everyone has said about CN and Connect Ohio. From 100% first hand experience, I disagree with about 90% if it. First, CN & Connect Ohio are technology & vendor neutral. So if you are looking for someone that is 100% in the WISP corner, you won't find it with them. That said, if you want WISP help, they will be 100% behind you. As for the comment that they are a telco tool . . . We have not found that to be the case in any way, shape or form in our dealing with them. Note: I said in OUR dealings with them. The maps? No matter who would make them, the are only as good as the info voluntarily submitted by the carriers. In our case, Windstream was just stupid in what they claim to cover. But, Connect Ohio could only go with what they were given. The engineering, tech support, help with putting funding proposals together, all of this has added up to a great experience for us. We are a new company - just been online since June of this year. We just put our third access point up a couple of weeks ago. But I have to say, to this point, CN/CO and Chip & Layne have been good for us. Your results may vary. Kind Regards, David Hannum New Era Broadband, LLC www.newerabroadband.com On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 11:35 PM, RickG <rgunder...@gmail.com> wrote: > Same here. -RickG > > On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 3:45 PM, Chuck Hogg <ch...@shelbybb.com> wrote: > > > Bad for us. They pushed WildBlue and HughesNet over us because > > WB/Hughes paid them $10k to be a partner. They also provided the > > mapping for Bellsouth/ATT and Insight (cable co) and identified the > > areas that they should serve. In my guestimate, it hurt us to the tune > > of 50-150 customers. > > > > Regards, > > Chuck Hogg > > Shelby Broadband > > 502-722-9292 > > ch...@shelbybb.com > > http://www.shelbybb.com > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On > > Behalf Of Mike Hammett > > Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 2:30 PM > > To: wireless@wispa.org > > Subject: [WISPA] Connected Nation > > > > Has anyone determined whether Connected Nation is good or bad for us? > > > > My state hired them for the map, but I don't want to respond with any > > information if the things I heard in the past are still true. I don't > > remember the points, I just remembered that they were bad news, so to > > avoid them. They sent me an NDA, but I never really read any of that > > stuff anyway. Most any contract is about as effective as a paper bag > > holding water. > > > > > > ----- > > Mike Hammett > > Intelligent Computing Solutions > > http://www.ics-il.com > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > -------- > > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > > http://signup.wispa.org/ > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > -------- > > > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------- > > WISPA Wants You! 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