Petitions or "broadband mapping," the end result is the same: Bumpkes

Mark dance sundridge broadband campaign pointless | This is Kent: Jane Hunter from the Westerham Town Partnership has campaigned at every opportunity to add names to the petition but she says she is not surprised to hear the votes will not influence the rollout.

"They have been stringing us along for no reason," she said. "They don't want people hassling them so they haven't told us the reality of the situation.

"And while we have been given figures by the council they never answer any of our questions on exactly what the criteria were for which areas would be part of the superfast project.

Across the Atlantic in the United States, petition drives similar to this one in the U.K. -- some dating back years and encouraged by incumbent providers and misguided demand aggregators -- proved equally pointless. Signatures on petitions can't overcome market failure and are just as futile as "mapping" broadband not spots will make them disappear. The result at the end of the effort is the same: bumpkes.

Demand aggregation won't attract investor-owned providers

Broadband Internet service for rural communities eyed - The Daily News Online: News:

A consultant asked Genesee County lawmakers Wednesday if they wanted to join a regional coalition to try to get broadband Internet service to rural communities and homes.
Evhen Tupis of Clarendon said he’s been working on getting high-speed broadband for unserved areas of Orleans County and Niagara County. The sparsely populated parts of the two counties don’t have a provider because it isn’t financially feasible for companies such as Time Warner and Verizon.

The coalition would issue a request for proposals to broadband service providers “with 100 percent coverage,” he said.
Tupis’ proposed Inclusive Internet Initiative would pool together the region’s counties to make it more attractive to communications companies. He estimated the cost to provide broadband to most or all of Genesee County at $150,000, the same as it would in Niagara.

Yet another misguided notion that investor-owned telecommunications infrastructure providers can be convinced to serve an area that is insufficiently profitable for them by aggregating demand.  Demand aggregation does not solve the underlying economics that make deployment impractical for these providers.  If businesses and residents want modern Internet access, they will have to provide it themselves with municipal fiber or a consumer cooperative.