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Dear Editor:
How many of you have asked yourself, is there another internet option available because the one I have isn’t very good? I’ve seen various posts on online discussion groups asking about internet options because of numerous service issues. I think many of us also realize that at times during the summer months internet demand is stretched to our current bandwidth limits, and it’s difficult to even stream a movie without constant buffering.
The importance of reliable, high capacity, high speed internet has never been more evident than now with our unprecedented reliance on the internet during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our internet connection is not just for e-mail, web browsing and streaming entertainment anymore. We are now relying on our internet to communicate with doctors while we are social distancing, to educate our kids when they can’t physically be in school, to conduct business and have public meetings, to stay in touch with family and friends – not to mention to purchase things we need when it’s not especially safe to be outside. That is the situation today.
And if we want to look to the future to attract more businesses and further economic development in our area, we need to be proactive and ensure the technology is in place for businesses to thrive here! Some large companies have already decided not to bring workers back to their offices when everything opens up again since they have been working remotely with success. I’m no internet expert, but I know that if more businesses could employ people in our area who worked from home on their computers, it might mean less traffic on our crowded roads, and that would be a blessing.
The Sussex County 2021 budget has been released and, regrettably, it appears as though no money is being allocated for improved broadband internet. I think you will agree that this really should be a priority. The budget will be discussed and likely approved at the June 23, 2020 meeting of the Sussex County Council, so now is the time to act! Please contact your Council representative and stress that money needs to be allocated for upgrading our broadband internet service. There is a direct e-mail link to each Council member at: https://sussexcountyde.gov/county-council
Together we can let our local government know how important improved broadband service is for our area. Thanks for helping to make this happen!
Respectfully,
Merril Levesque
June 4, 2020
Dear Sussex Residents,
The high-speed internet is the access point for students' remote learning, seniors' tele-medicine, men and women working from home, farmers running farm equipment, . . . Furthermore, it is an absolute necessity to attract new high tech and high paying industries.
Why do I repeat all this that everyone knows by now? There is a big void in Sussex County, a broadband void, that is - especially in the Mid and Western Sussex County.
Nevertheless, Sussex County's 2021 Budget Proposal, presented at the Council Meeting on May 19th and to be voted on for adoption on June 23, has no mention of broadband infrastructure improvement. If nothing is changed, this budget as is will take effect on July 1.
Even if you live in Eastern Sussex County where the internet speeds can reach 800+ mbps, this is no time to sit back and relax, because we are all bound together as a county to succeed or fail together. Rather than watching and mourning the over-development of Eastern Sussex, we should promote the rural Sussex areas as a business mecca by bringing in high speed internet, maybe even faster than in Eastern Sussex. This, along with Georgetown Airport being in Foreign Trade Zone, could make rural Sussex our next economic engine and help Sussex County diversifying itself from a few industries that it heavily relies on. Not equipping the whole County with broadband is giving up on future economic growth.
Another side of broadband that will decide the future of our County is in children's education. We heard, through the lockdown, many children did not have internet access or devices to participate in remote learning. To send off our children into tomorrow's market that will be rapidly changing by technological advancement, we have to ensure our children are proficient and confident in technology and not afraid to adapt to many changes that they will surely face. They are our future, the very ones who will support us in our old (or older) age.
Sussex County has had Broadband Improvement in its budget for several years, and this is not the time to put a halt on this even-in-rainy-day project. Yes, the revenue outlook is murky, but certain capital investments cannot be postponed, even if it means dipping into the reserve fund. Four out of 5 Councilmen expressed their support for countywide broadband infrastructure.
The imminent needs are a monetary funding and a new position in the office of Economic Development - in the form of a "Technology Czar" - someone well versed in the trajectory of technological advancement, with a long term focus and ambition to champion for Sussex County to lead, or at least stay abreast with, the "new" technology.
Time is running out. Please spread the word and contact ALL Councilmen; County Administrator, Todd Lawson; and Finance Director, Gina Jennings, to make countywide broadband our future. Their contact information is found at the County website https://sussexcountyde.gov/department-listing or https://sites.google.com/view/sussex2030/important-contacts
Many related editorials are found at https://sites.google.com/view/sussex2030economy/infrastructure/broadband-internet
Yearly County Budgets and 2021 Proposal can be viewed at https://sussexcountyde.gov/county-budget
Thank you for doing what you can.
Eul Lee
June 11, 2020
I wrote a letter published on June 4th regarding the lack of broadband infrastructure item in Sussex County's 2021 budget.
In response, Sussex County Administrator, Todd Lawson, informed me that there is '$750,000 in the FY 2021 Budget for IT Infrastructure' and it is exclusively dedicated to broadband expansion. He said this is in addition to the $510,000 [from the 2020 budget the County] just spent on a fiber ring in Georgetown and funds for partnerships with wireless providers. This tells me the County recognizes the necessity of broadband expansion.
Mr. Lawson also told me that, despite numerous efforts to expand broadband throughout the County and millions of dollars budgeted in the past few years, the County has not spent very little of the funding because there is not an easy, cost-efficient solution to this problem of providing broadband in rural Sussex County. He said that spending millions of dollars aimlessly searching for a solution that does not guarantee results would have been a waste of taxpayers' money, which I agree.
I am glad this conversation is happening because the public needs to hear and appreciate what the County has been doing.
Since my last letter, I have also learned that providing high speed internet in the rural areas is very costly because of the high initial investment to serve a small number of clients and few companies have been willing to make this investment. One of these companies is Bloosurf. Yet, getting high speed internet in rural Sussex County beyond Georgetown is essential for education, economic, and health care purposes. So, then the question is, "How do we bring in high speed internet into the rural areas?"
On further reading on this subject led me to satellite internet, which may provide answers for the rural areas but at a high cost. This fast advancing technology is becoming available, and hopefully, at lower costs. Satellite internet is not as speedy as cable-based internet and has its own restrictions, but the recovery after natural disasters that disrupt the cables, such as hurricanes or earthquakes, is supposed to be fast.
I maintain the need for us to keep the conversation of broadband in rural Sussex going, to search for and hopefully to adopt optimal solutions when available.
Eul Lee