From Modem to Modern World

Debbi Hoagland's family never splurged for broadband Internet until her son began classes at Ohio University's Lancaster branch a year ago.

"It's expensive, but so much more convenient," said Hoagland, who uses Time Warner Cable. "When we had dial-up, it took forever to connect and changing pages would sometimes take 45 seconds."

Citizens of Fairfield County's more rural areas have suffered the hassles of dial-up Internet for years. But a $2.3 million grant-loan combination awarded in March to Intelliwave Inc. could change the standard, making broadband Internet - with a wireless option - available to all of Pickaway and Fairfield counties and parts of Athens County.

"Southeast Ohio can be a difficult market (for broadband)," said Chris Cooper, the president of Intelliwave. "If you look around, we've got rugged terrain, low population densities, and that makes it difficult for people to make broadband investments in the area."

Athens County consistently falls short of statewide averages for Internet and computer use, according to data from the Connect Ohio county profile, which states that 41 percent of Athens residents have neither dial-up nor broadband Internet, compared to 30 percent statewide.

According to the same report, high cost and low availability of Internet play primary roles in determining these percentages. Athens households making less than $35,000 per year are slightly more likely to have Internet access than those in other Ohio counties.

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