You have to be on the Internet to read this, so you know what it's like when your online access slows down. Now imagine that it never speeds up again... how useful would the Web be to you? Governments at many levels are determined to push high-speed broadband Internet out across the landscape, to urban and rural areas alike.
The federal government has been scattering millions of dollars in broadband, and the Oregon Legislature passed a law this year to take advantage of the federal largesse.
We get some ideas on how the money will be spent from Nolan Pleše, a lobbyist with the League of Oregon Cities, and from Tim Rosenor, the Mayor of Sherwood, Oregon. That city is so committed to broadband that it owns its own operation, Sherwood Broadband.