The Doctor on the Digital Tundra

Dr. René Alvarez lives and works in Homer, Alaska, a small city on a scenic bay in the southwest part of the state. Getting Internet access in Homer isn’t a problem. In fact, this city is the jumping-off point for a new fiber-optic link to Kodiak Island that went into operation in late July. Unfortunately, some of Alvarez’s patients aren’t so lucky.

For the people in rural Alaska, the Internet is a vital link to the outside world. Everything that needs to be done in real time arrives through their links to the Internet. Normally, these small communities of perhaps 100 to 200 people share a community connection to the Internet and may also share a computer. With the Internet, they have not only news but also education, and they have real-time health care. Without it, they have none of these.

While AT&T executives and others have said they would never refuse to pass traffic to any Internet location, they have also said they want to be paid more. In fact, AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre said in a November interview in BusinessWeek that Google, Yahoo and others shouldn’t be able to use "his pipes" for free. The sentiment that application providers should pay more for network access was echoed in statements by Verizon, BellSouth and other companies. As a result, there have been reports in eWEEK and elsewhere that the payment would be a charge to users who want to have access to those services.

By Wayne Rash

Full Story: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1999050,00.asp

(Thanks to Brad Feld for passing this along. Russ)