Towns caught in clash over Net access

Bardwell, Ky., three miles east of the Mississippi River, is so isolated that only in the 1990s were its homes upgraded to private phone lines from a shared party line.

Valerie Davis, a Bardwell resident who suffers from the progressive neurological illness multiple sclerosis, wanted to telecommute on her worst days to her job as an information systems analyst at a hospital 35 miles away, but found her dial-up connection unreliable.

Connect Kentucky (CONNKY), a state initiative to make high-speed Internet access ubiquitous, caught Davis’ attention. For a one-time installation charge and monthly service fees, a satellite provider in December 2005 extended always-on broadband access to the farm Davis shares with her husband, a state trooper, and their 6-year-old daughter.

By Joseph Popiolkowski, Stateline.org Staff Writer, and Brian H. Kehrl

Full Story: http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=87700