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Pennsylvania Broadband at the Speed of Light

In central Pennsylvania, much like in the rest of America, high-speed broadband access is still making slow, inconsistent inroads.

By Andrea DawsonPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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In central Pennsylvania, much like in the rest of America, high-speed broadband access is still making slow, inconsistent inroads. As of the date of this writing, approximately 94% percent of Pennsylvanians had access to broadband services. While this percentage sounds high, it's a little misleading in that the figure defines broadband as any wired service providing a minimum speed of 25mbps.

Considering that the typical HD video content being served by services such as Netflix and Amazon will eat up more than one-fifth of the bandwidth per stream on a 25mbps line, the current definition seems to lag behind real-world user requirements.

Part of the difficulty in expanding access to broadband is the fragmented private networks of rival providers. At last count, there were almost 200 broadband providers operating in Pennsylvania alone. It's a wide array of choices for consumers, but the reality is that few of these providers have overlapping territories.

This means that the average broadband customer in Pennsylvania has a maximum of three providers to choose from, and not all will offer the speed packages they want. Studies have indicated that this is a deliberate ploy by many providers to decrease competition and thereby extract higher fees from customers.

A Better Way That Works

In several other industrialized nations, the general consensus has become that national broadband networks are the best way to provide universal access to high-speed internet service. In most instances, widespread roll outs of fiber-optic networks have been the standard. These next-generation networks are capable of delivering more reliable service at speeds up to 40 times faster than the current definition of broadband.

Australia provides an excellent example, where the National Broadband Network (NBN), is being rolled out nationwide by a government-owned corporation. The government expects the fiber-optic network rollout to be complete by 2020, providing reliable broadband access nationwide. To preserve user choice, the service is available through several NBN plans with different speed tiers and price points.

Local Pennsylvania Governments Get Into the Act

Since there's been very little movement at the federal level to establish a concrete plan for a mass-deployment of fiber-optic networks in the U.S., many local governments have stepped in to get the ball rolling.

In Pennsylvania, as in many other states, the municipalities face an uphill battle attempting to win legal rights to develop these networks. They are nearly universally opposed by private broadband providers, who fight tooth and nail to preserve their hegemony.

One place in the region that has seemed to clear all of the barriers to development is in Lancaster City. In a partnership with a local telecommunications provider, a municipal fiber broadband network is already in the beginning stages of customer rollout.

The LanCity Connect project aims to be able to provide services to the majority of the city by the end of 2019. Their initial price plans are competitive and should force the other providers in the area to compete to retain customers.

Connecting Pennsylvania

As projects like LanCity Connect become more widespread in Pennsylvania, customer demand should create more pressure on the state government to change or eliminate the restrictions on municipal network development.

If the trend spreads far enough, Pennsylvania may be vaulted to the top of the list for broadband connectivity in America. It's an excellent test market, with a widely varied population that is spread from urban areas to rural sprawl. The municipal internet movement may even push true 21st-century broadband into the furthest reaches of the state, driving competition and ensuring equality for all in the new digital age.

To learn more about municipal internet read How Municipal WiFi Works.

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About the Creator

Andrea Dawson

A fitness blogger and a personal trainer.

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