From Wilson, North Carolina to Washington: Broadband access a growing issue

Here's an exhausive, well written feature article by Fiona Morgan at INDYWeek.com replete with photos on the issue of broadband Internet access and how the North Carolina municipality of Wilson concluded broadband is an essential public utility and took matters into its own hands and built its own fiber optic based infratructure.

The story explains the reasons for America's incomplete telecommunications infrastructure and how policymakers are addressing the issue from Wilson city hall to Congress. Speaking of the latter, the story notes that lack of broadband is the top constitutent complaint for North Carolina Rep. Bill Faison, a House Democrat representing Orange and Caswell counties.

"I can't go to a public meeting anywhere in Orange or Caswell without someone coming up to me and saying, 'We've got a problem with Internet and here's what it is,'" Faison is quoted as saying. "No one comes up and says, 'We've got a problem with Medicaid,' or 'We've got a problem with the wildlife commission.' No one complains about the Department of Transportation not fixing a road in front of their house. They all show up and want high-speed Internet.'"