Disconnected Texas

Hooo Dogies,

The State of Texas has commissioned a 3 Million dollar study to see how well Texans have access to broadband internet service. (Story here) Included is an interactive map, which if you enter your address, will show broadband offers in your area. According to an article in the Austin American Statesman, 97% of all Texas households have access to broadband internet. Well Glory Be, could my long local nightmare be over? So I go to: http://connectedtx.org
I want to see how Bastrop County fares in broadband service.
The map is here
It only took one hour and 18 minutes to load. There it is, nearly all of Bastrop County has broadband! Time to check out the interactive map and see what companies are out there and wonder why they don't advertise. After another half hour or so, the interactive map is up and I enter my address. It takes a while to load. Then, there they are, the companies that offer broadband internet service.

First up, AT&T DSL. AT&T, nope, no DSL here. Next is Time Warner Cable. Let's see, what part of the word cable have I been missing all these years. There ain't no &%@$&@ cable here. On to the next, ERF Wireless. Well I've never heard of them. Go to the ERF Wireless website. They serve such far flung places as Big Lake and Canyon Lake, BUT NOT HERE!!! Next up, Suddenlink Communications. Well, gee, aren't they another cable company? Plus they don't have service in Bastrop! Oh, wait. Suddenlink does provide service in Bastrop, Louisiana. How'd that get in there? Just who did this study?

The last three on the list: Sprint, Cricket and Verizon. None of these companies offer unlimited broadband and in this area all are limited to 3G. Plus, Verizon's signal is so bad here that to talk on a Verizon cell phone, you must go outside. I'm not dragging my computer out on the lawn.

So there went three million dollars down a rabbit hole. All that for an inaccurate list I can already get off an ad filled webpage. That nice shade of green showing my area has access to broadband internet is a little green lie.

So back to square one. If I can find a rotary modem, I'm dropping the 75 cents extra AT&T charges for touch tone.

97% my ass.

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***Response to my email from staff at Connected Texas***

Thank you for the information on broadband service in your area. While the initial data collection requirements for this project allowed for providers to submit census block data, allowing for a larger area to appear serviced even if only a single household in the census block could actually get service, the next phase of the broadband mapping project will allow us to take information from consumers like you to revise the maps and make them more accurate. The next map update is scheduled for September 2010 and we should be able to incorporate your input into the next map.

If you have not already, I would encourage you to enter a broadband inquiry regarding this coverage, using the online form available here: http://www.connectedtx.org/_forms/broadband_inquiries.php. We map all inquiries and use the comments to revise coverage as necessary.