May 2008 - Testing West Virginia's Internet Speed

I remember a time, about twelve years ago, when I was grateful to have Internet service, any Internet service. I felt fortunate to even have dial-up. Although I had access to the Internet on a T-1 line at work, at my rural home in Wirt County, dial-up just -- didn’t exist yet.

When we moved to rural Mason County, I was excited to sign up for a connection that moved at a miserable crawl.

When we returned to rural Gilmer County, I was pleased to discover I actually had maximum dial-up speeds, and no disconnects. I felt I was, for several years after that, one of the lucky few in West Virginia who had reliable dial-up service at both home and work.

And then, the world went high-speed. I don’t even know how long broadband was out there before I even knew it existed, but by the time I found out -- the world, the Internet was far ahead of any of my capabilities. I was technically disabled again. When Youtube was commonplace in the world, I was tortured by miserably long downloads. When Netflix offered free movie downloads in addition to our three-at-a-time hard copies through the mail, I actually felt pain -- real pain.

I thought I’d try it, you know, to download an entire movie via dial-up... Hours passed. Continuous time where my computer CPU just clickedy-clacked, as if it was straining its mental torque to pull the data in. It hurt me to listen to it, and was an endless, miserable wait. When I finished downloading the download-it program and the movie, for some unknown reason, it didn’t work anyway.

And then one day, by some miracle, broadband came to Stumptown, West Virginia. The telephone line repair guy called me from the station at the end of our road. He had just finished installing broadband service for our area. Did I want it?

I almost drove 2.25 miles (just under two as the crow flies) to kiss the man. Within a week, Frontier Communications likely had orders from every 354-phone-number (Calhoun service) in Stumptown. Our nearby 462-phone-number Verizon neighbors (Gilmer service) were not so fortunate.

Less than two years later, Frank and I launched Two-Lane Livin’ magazine. Without high-speed Internet access, Two-Lane Livin’ wouldn’t be possible. Large images, large uploads, large files, email coming and going almost constantly... If broadband wasn’t available in Stumptown, West Virginia, you wouldn’t be reading this.

Literally, this is the Two-Lane Livin’ perspective of the Gilmer/Calhoun example cited recently on a popular blog maintained by Create WV.* The entry is in response to the recent release of the map of West Virginia's broadband coverage developed by Connect West Virginia.* Connect West Virginia is creating detailed maps of broadband coverage in West Virginia to accurately pinpoint gaps in the state.

In a state where it is commonplace to complain about Internet Service with full justification, someone has taken the lead to research the situation and develop partnerships to improve the situation, and Two-Lane Livin’ joins hundreds in the state to applaud their efforts.

To make their maps as accurate as possible, Connect West Virginia is asking for input: if you don’t have broadband service yet, if you want to test your broadband speed, if broadband has changed your life.

Can broadband change a life? Can it spark a new business, can it create new connections that make the impossible possible? Can broadband actually make dreams come true?

Ab-so-lutely.

Two-Lane Livin' is proof. ~ Lisa

Every West Virginian deserves high-speed Internet! Please participate in Connect West Virginia’s program to expand and develop broadband services in our state.