Texas 44th in Internet connections, census numbers show

[sonias]

AAS 2/18/10
Texas 44th in Internet connections, census numbers show

Texas ranks as one of the nation's least-connected states, with only three out of five Texans with Internet access at home, according to numbers released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Texas ranks just above Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi. New Hampshire — with almost 85 percent connected at home — Alaska and Utah took the top three spots on the most wired list.

(snip)

Joe Straubhaar, a director of the University of Texas Digital Divide Project, said Texas seemed poised to address digital disparities but stopped its efforts over the past decade.

"From the late '90s to early 2000s, Texas was ahead of the curve for states with rural areas," Straubhaar said. "We were doing what other states weren't doing, (such as) subsidizing (Internet) connection in schools and libraries."

Before 1996 , Texas was on its way to making sure that the state had universal connection to the Internet, Straubhaar said. State officials and experts at the time thought having access to the Internet was going to be the equivalent of having access to a phone line.

But in 1996, Texas lawmakers decided not to make Internet access universal, Straubhaar said. Instead, they chose to foster competition among phone companies when they passed an amendment to the Public Utility Regulation Act, according to UT Digital Divide Project data published in 1999.

Another example of privatization failed policy at the republican controlled lege. We were ahead of the curve and then we ended up in a ditch thanks to G.W. bush. Yes it was bush driving in 1996. And along for the ride were the corporate controlled (read bought and paid for by AT&T and SW Bell) legislators who killed the idea of municipal funded or subsidized Internet.

We're # 44! We're # 44! We're # 44! We could have been a contender. Utah and Alaska are kicking our ass now. :grr:

Sonia

[hobbit709]

1. We rank in the bottom 10 in just about everything worthwhile

No surprise there.

[sonias]

2. True, but it shouldn't be

It's leadership we lack primarily. That lack of leadership combined with the corporatist legislators, screw us over every time.