Improved access is key to job and educational growth, but Saturday's discussion leaves questions about direction.BLACKSBURG -- A group of approximately 100 citizens, presenters, educators, town officials and vendors met Saturday in the atrium of Kent Square in Blacksburg for a forum concerning the region's broadband future.
Breda van Gelder, director of Blacksburg Electronic Village, said that despite Blacksburg's lingering fame as America's most wired town in the early 1990s, much has changed.
There are still sections of Montgomery County and surrounding areas that do not have access to broadband technology for high-speed internet service.
Van Gelder said ideally people should be able to go from home to school to work and continue their work seamlessly without a slowdown in service.
"But that requires a specific type of infrastructure," said van Gelder. "It could be a combination of wired and wireless, but the most important thing is it has to be equal bandwidth upstream and downstream."
Generally speaking, people have more bandwidth for downloads than uploads.
"If you want to be an entrepreneur, if you want to be a producer over this network, you are thwarted because you have a smaller bandwidth," van Gelder explained.
An improved network, therefore, is important for encouraging new business and attracting outside businesses to locate in the New River Valley, especially if workers could have high-speed access in rural homes.
Patrick Fay is the communications manager for Accelerate Virginia Project, a part of Virginia Tech's information technology outreach.
The group is producing a broadband map of the state, asking citizens to participate in a speed test to develop a clear vision of quality service in the state.
The current state broadband map is created from the claims of providers, but consumers often do not get the speed providers say they have.
Fay said widespread high-speed access is improves a community's business and educational environment and makes telecommuting possible from rural areas.
"People can work from home so you can keep your workforce, keep your tax base," Fay said.
Telecommuting also offers a greener way to work, said Vinod Chachra, president and CEO of VTLS and participant in the closing panel.
In addition to reducing the use of gasoline, less energy may be expended for home and business energy use which are often heated and cooled when no one is there.
Telecommuting could cut that in half by making living and working spaces the same place.
Andrew Michael Cohill, president and CEO of Design Nine, a technology and broadband consulting firm, was one of the final presenters.
Cohill offered various models for consideration from across the country, including the city of Galax, which has the best fiber connectivity in the region.
His presentation prompted repeated questions regarding the proper broadband "prescription" for Blacksburg.
Cohill was not willing to offer a particular recommendation, but rather said the problem was not a matter of technology.
"Ownership and governance are the issues," said Cohill, noting that when those two issues are resolved, the actual implementation of broadband in the region was not an obstacle.
Cohill also said a broadband authority for the entire region would be one option to consider.
Like a water authority, a broadband authority would own the infrastructure and lease use of it to various providers for resale or distribution.
Currently, there is such an entity, The New River Valley Network Wireless Authority, but it only covers Giles and Pulaski counties.
Marilyn Buhyoff, a Blacksburg Electronic Villiage board member, clarified that no particular prescription could be derived from the day's forum itself.
"The purpose of this event is to help us as a community come up with that prescription," said Buhyoff.
"It's not going to be just the town or just Virginia Tech or just BEV or just an authority. It's going to take all of us working together to get to that next step."
