When my wife I and were thinking about moving to Saluda, about 19 years ago, my first thought was: Sound great. But does it have high-speed internet?
Fortunately, a few seconds on my current internet connection was all it took to find out that yes, Saluda did have high-speed service. Not everyone in Polk County is so lucky. My Facebook feed includes almost daily complaints from someone somewhere whose service is either too slow or too unreliable. And as our experience during the first year and a half of the COVID pandemic proves, there are a lot of families from who the commercial internet providers have not come through because they don’t like to run lines to lightly populated areas where the return on investment is marginal.
According to the Foothills Regional Commission, a third of the households in Polk County don’t have a broadband connection. Most of them are in Green Creek, Sunny View, Mill Spring — basically anywhere outside of the three towns. A lot of them would love to sign up for decent internet at a bargain price by taking advantage of the $30/month subsidy that the Biden administration managed to convince Congress to pass last year. But you can’t use a subsidy if there’s nothing to buy.
Still, things are getting better. The fiber-optic line through Saluda that let my wife and I hold simultaneous Zoom videoconferences while my son did something similar during that wonderful experience known as “remote learning” not too long ago, was made possible by an Obama administration grant to RiverStreet, our internet provider. There were plans to expand that service but program funding dried up when the Trump administration took over in 2017.
Now, the state of North Carolina is finally recognizing that the free market isn’t going to make that last-mile connection. Among the biggest boosters of using taxpayer dollars to expand broadband service is Polk County’s representative in the state House, Jake Johnson. He was more than happy to talk about his work on that subject. Our conversation is full of acronyms and references to obscure government programs, but I think you’ll still learn a few things about what’s coming down the proverbial pipeline. You might also learn a few things about Jake Johnson, and his approach to politics.
We spoke about the coming broadband bonzana — and the possibility that North Carolina might finally expand Medicaid — a few days ago in a conference room above the House of Flags museum in Columbus.
Further reading and watching:
March 6, 2023, Polk Board of Commissioners presentation on broadband
Federal grant to RiverStreet to build 2000 miles of fiber in NC, Journal Patriot:
