Increased US Broadband Adoption Could Create 2.4 Million Jobs 171
Ward D points out a story about a recent study that predicts significant economic growth through increased broadband adoption in the U.S. The study is based on a program in Kentucky that has, through the increased use of broadband, "saved an average of more than $200 per person per year" on health-care services, and decreased the average amount of time residents spent driving by 100 hours per month. From Computerworld:
"The Connected Nation model ... focuses more on broadband adoption and local needs than huge, government-funded programs. Several Kentucky businesses have benefited from the increased access, according to Connected Nation. Geek Squad, the Best Buy subsidiary, moved its headquarters to Bullitt County, Kentucky, in late 2006 because of the broadband availability."
In other news (Score:4, Informative)
Re:How much did these people drive before? (Score:4, Informative)
Should say miles, not hours (Score:5, Informative)
From the report:
The error is in the Computerworld article which misstates:
Re:Should say miles, not hours (Score:4, Informative)
There's lies, damned lies, and statistics.
This tells us nothing. if the other 34% drove 200 more miles per month ( 50 miles/week - for example, to look at stuff they found on cragislist, or to meet people they chatted with online) then there are zero savings in driving distances. The fact that they didn't give an overall figure shows they cherry-picked, and the real savings is more like 25 miles/month overall.Another bogus claim:
WTF is that supposed to mean? That people will suddenly be saving $9.50The "study" is bogus. Its an attempt from the telcos to get more "incentives" from the government.
Re:Nice idea, but possibly dubious math (Score:5, Informative)
Personally, I don't work in IT and have no desire what-so-ever to be in that line of work (I'm a chemist), but plenty of people are. I'm sorry that you don't like the Midwest, but your stereotypes are just plain wrong. Don't think for a second there is no hi-tech work or expertise.
From my experience, the IT folks are usually the anti-social type and really aren't that fun to be around.
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Nice idea, but possibly dubious math (Score:2, Informative)
As an aside, our local cable internet is Insight which offers a decent package (business too) for 10Mb/1Mb and we don't get all the nasty filtering we hear about from elsewhere or saturated nodes...
I'm 23 with certifications in Microsoft, Novell, Cisco and an associates in my field.
We're not all rednecks down here