GoBEC, Barry Electric host broadband discussion
Above, Greene County Presiding Commissioner, Bob Dixon - member of a national group tasked with gathering information to assist with reducing the digital divide in rural America - led a community discussion hosted by Barry Electric and GoBEC Fiber Technology Wednesday, March 10.
March 17, 2021
Sheila Harris
Greene County Presiding Commissioner, Bob Dixon – a member of the National Association of Counties - met with business owners and interested citizens of Barry County Wednesday for a discussion about the challenges of providing broadband internet connectivity to all residents of the county.
The round-table style meeting - held in one of Barry Electric’s garages in Cassville – was the most productive meeting in the four counties where he’s held them so far, Dixon said.
“I’m gathering information from residents of the ten-county region I’m responsible for,” said Dixon, who was appointed to a 30-member national task force to study the broadband needs of U.S. residents in detail.
“Primarily, we are looking for the answer to three questions,” he continued. “What is the current footprint of broadband? What are the barriers to build-out (to increase that bandwidth)? And, how can we guarantee equal access to the internet?
The goal, Dixon said, is to decrease the digital divide in rural areas across the nation.
“Most of the comments we receive regarding the importance of internet connectivity come from four fundamental groups: law enforcement, agriculture leaders, educators, and business leaders,” Dixon said.
Angela Seymour, who represented Crowder College at the meeting, said many of the school’s students were left stranded last year when classes went virtual.
“We provided access to wi-fi in the parking lot of the Cassville campus,” she said, “but when students went home, many of them didn’t have internet access. A lot of them had to drop classes for that reason.”
Bob Dixon said he’s heard many favorable comments about GoBEC’s provision of fiber optic internet technology in Cassville and other areas in southern Barry County.
“GoBEC internet is the crown jewel of Cassville, from what I hear,” he said.
Many satisfied customers of GoBEC, present at the meeting, agreed with him.
Dixon was able to take away feedback from GoBEC board members, most of which related to the prohibitive cost of providing the infrastructure for the fiber network – a gamble Barry Electric was willing to take on, beginning in 2001, when they began their initial investment in a fiber optic network in the Cassville area.
Local veterinarian Dr. David Cupps, a board member of Barry Technologies (doing business as GoBEC), explained that part of the problem with GoBEC serving a broader area is the unavailability of more federal grant funds to help the defray the costs.
“The FCC holds auctions which give competitors the opportunity to place bids for federal grants to be awarded to service providers,” he said. “We had fiber optic infrastructure in place which ran north from Wheaton on Highway 86 and north from LeAnn along Highway 39. Our thought, which made perfect sense, was to run the network across northern Barry County from Highway 86 to Highway 39. However, we didn’t receive the FCC grant we bid on, so we had to table the idea.”
According to Cupps, a company out of Illinois called Whisper received the funding, but, based on the amount of their bid, he doesn’t believe they will be able to provide the service that GoBEC could.
Bob Dixon says it’s not always a fair playing field when it comes to FCC grants.
“It’s usually the incumbent provider who wins the grants,” he said, referencing Windstream, a national company which serves parts of northern Barry County. “Sometimes companies don’t follow through with the promises they make in order to receive those grants, so internet accessibility for customers does not improve.”
Cupps believes the best way to decrease the digital divide across the nation is for rural electric co-ops to make the jump into fiber optic provision, as Barry Electric did. He realizes it’s an expensive proposition, though.
“There’s only so much we can do without more funding, since Barry Technologies operates as a for-profit business. If we can’t make money by expanding our network, then we can’t do it,” he said.
He makes clear that GoBEC’s business has not affected rates for members of the Barry Electric Co-op, which uses a separate business model.
“Someday,” he said, “I hope to see the internet considered a necessary utility, and its infrastructure subsidized by the government, just as electricity was in the 1930s and 40s, under FDR.”
With information collected by Bob Dixon and other members of the national task force, that day may be on the horizon. Just how far away it may be, though, is anyone’s guess.
Sheila Harris
Greene County Presiding Commissioner, Bob Dixon – a member of the National Association of Counties - met with business owners and interested citizens of Barry County Wednesday for a discussion about the challenges of providing broadband internet connectivity to all residents of the county.
The round-table style meeting - held in one of Barry Electric’s garages in Cassville – was the most productive meeting in the four counties where he’s held them so far, Dixon said.
“I’m gathering information from residents of the ten-county region I’m responsible for,” said Dixon, who was appointed to a 30-member national task force to study the broadband needs of U.S. residents in detail.
“Primarily, we are looking for the answer to three questions,” he continued. “What is the current footprint of broadband? What are the barriers to build-out (to increase that bandwidth)? And, how can we guarantee equal access to the internet?
The goal, Dixon said, is to decrease the digital divide in rural areas across the nation.
“Most of the comments we receive regarding the importance of internet connectivity come from four fundamental groups: law enforcement, agriculture leaders, educators, and business leaders,” Dixon said.
Angela Seymour, who represented Crowder College at the meeting, said many of the school’s students were left stranded last year when classes went virtual.
“We provided access to wi-fi in the parking lot of the Cassville campus,” she said, “but when students went home, many of them didn’t have internet access. A lot of them had to drop classes for that reason.”
Bob Dixon said he’s heard many favorable comments about GoBEC’s provision of fiber optic internet technology in Cassville and other areas in southern Barry County.
“GoBEC internet is the crown jewel of Cassville, from what I hear,” he said.
Many satisfied customers of GoBEC, present at the meeting, agreed with him.
Dixon was able to take away feedback from GoBEC board members, most of which related to the prohibitive cost of providing the infrastructure for the fiber network – a gamble Barry Electric was willing to take on, beginning in 2001, when they began their initial investment in a fiber optic network in the Cassville area.
Local veterinarian Dr. David Cupps, a board member of Barry Technologies (doing business as GoBEC), explained that part of the problem with GoBEC serving a broader area is the unavailability of more federal grant funds to help the defray the costs.
“The FCC holds auctions which give competitors the opportunity to place bids for federal grants to be awarded to service providers,” he said. “We had fiber optic infrastructure in place which ran north from Wheaton on Highway 86 and north from LeAnn along Highway 39. Our thought, which made perfect sense, was to run the network across northern Barry County from Highway 86 to Highway 39. However, we didn’t receive the FCC grant we bid on, so we had to table the idea.”
According to Cupps, a company out of Illinois called Whisper received the funding, but, based on the amount of their bid, he doesn’t believe they will be able to provide the service that GoBEC could.
Bob Dixon says it’s not always a fair playing field when it comes to FCC grants.
“It’s usually the incumbent provider who wins the grants,” he said, referencing Windstream, a national company which serves parts of northern Barry County. “Sometimes companies don’t follow through with the promises they make in order to receive those grants, so internet accessibility for customers does not improve.”
Cupps believes the best way to decrease the digital divide across the nation is for rural electric co-ops to make the jump into fiber optic provision, as Barry Electric did. He realizes it’s an expensive proposition, though.
“There’s only so much we can do without more funding, since Barry Technologies operates as a for-profit business. If we can’t make money by expanding our network, then we can’t do it,” he said.
He makes clear that GoBEC’s business has not affected rates for members of the Barry Electric Co-op, which uses a separate business model.
“Someday,” he said, “I hope to see the internet considered a necessary utility, and its infrastructure subsidized by the government, just as electricity was in the 1930s and 40s, under FDR.”
With information collected by Bob Dixon and other members of the national task force, that day may be on the horizon. Just how far away it may be, though, is anyone’s guess.
