WIMAX

Remember the term because in a few years you rural towns out there should be looking for ways to get it to your community. If predictions pan out, it will be a comparatively dirt-cheap means of bringing a transformational technology- broadband internet accesss- to rural communities.

We rural towns often can't provide the water/sewer/roads/electricity infrastructure that large businesses need and there's not much we can do about that. We can, however, encourage solo entrepreneurs, telecommuters, and small businesses to locate here by competing on the quality-of-life issues, and- I know a lot of you older folks won't believe me when I say this- a significant chunk of younger families and businesses, given the choice, will opt for a locality that has broadband internet service over one that does not.

In the Village of Westfield we've been fortunate to have DSL and/or cable modem since early 2001, and I was one of the first folks to sign up. Had called Adelphia every month before that for updates on the status of the roll-out. I could not live here without broadband. And I mean that literally. There are others like me, and our numbers are growing.

Municipal wireless is not a panacea for our economic development woes, but, increasingly, the presence of broadband service in your community will become a factor in whether people want to live there, just like the quality of your schools and the availability of nice housing, etc. It's not a matter of getting ahead of, just staying with. Think on it.