Although we have not seen the final stimulus package signed by President Obama yet, rumor (and by rumor I mean National Public Radio) now has it that "The stimulus package includes $7.2 billion to expand broadband Internet access into 'underserved' and rural areas." (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100739283)
This article argues both for and against pulling fiber into "underserved" (as very different from "undeserved," mind you) and rural areas, citing, for one, the economics of the proposition.
Whenever I hear of fiber being planned some hundred and forty miles into nowhere in order to light up a town of four hundred odd souls to connect them to the internet the fast way, I am always reminded of the Same (which is what we called the Laps in Northern Sweden, where I grew up) who had now stayed in the same Lapp-teepee for twenty-four months, and as such, by Swedish government definition, had a permanent residence.
By Swedish law--this is the early 60s, mind you--no one with a permanent residence could be denied telephone service.
Now, this Same's teepee had stood its ground (the same ground, apparently) about two hundred kilometers from the nearest CO (telephone central office/switch), that's roughly one hundred twenty-five miles!
But, the law was the law.
And although an unusually fierce storm might raze this permanent residence if the gods were no longer smiling upon him, the Swedish government still went ahead and poled and strung telephone wire over tundra and mountain over a hundred miles into the Lapp wilderness to deliver dial tone to this Same who insisted it was his right to have it.
At what expense, you ask? Way too large, I answer. And, I believe Sweden redefined permanent residence after this incident.
The point, though, is that when the time comes to decide who gets high-speed internet this time around, and who doesn't, please let reason have a clear and heeded voice.
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