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If only there was a state out there that was full of people that knew how to make cars. Perhaps if such a place existed, it may have been a better place for Tesla to HQ than silicon valley was.

Michigan... I thought they needed people who knew how to make cars.

If only there was a state out there that was full of people that knew how to make cars. Perhaps if such a place existed, it may have been a better place for Tesla to HQ than silicon valley was.

That's easy enough... The dead rising from Lake Michigan every 4 years vote Democrat. Stats should be a matter of public record here: http://www.michigan.org/travel/detail.asp?m=2&p=G2 1080 ;)

You can fill out a request for absentee ballot. At least here in Michigan, I can fill out my local ballot request form online. If you take a quick gander at it, one of the checkboxes is "I cannot attend the polls because I am confined to jail awaiting arraignment or trial." Some of the other boxes might apply as well, including: "I am pyhsically unable to attend the polls without the assistance of another" (eg: I need someone to testify to get me out of jail) or "I expect to be absent from the community in which I am registered for the entire day ...".. serving 10-20 in the county lock-up just might cause you to be absent.

North of a Chicago there's a road called Half Day Road. Used to take a half a day to get there. A hundred years maybe? Takes an hour now.

In a recent broadband assessment for our area, as part of the Link Michigan project, they defined broadband as enough bandwidth as to not limit your application. That is, there's enough speed to do whatever you want.

So yesterday, perhaps 128K was broadband. It was enough. Today, cable modems at 256K+ download is enough. What about tomorrow?

Tomorrow (dare I say today?) we will see bandwidth serving multiple video streams, voice communication along with all the Internet-normal services. Can we do this in today's "broadband"? No.

"I have a broadband Internet connection" is saying the exact same thing as "I have a fast Internet connection".

It's all relative.

If you go here, it's plain to see that this isn't a simple problem. Hell, I used to live in a rural suburb of Grand Rapids, and it's ridiculous hard to get decent dial-up service there.

Judging by the tele-comm infrastructure maps (off the link above), it looks like the best thing to do would be to tap off that fat pipe from Chicago to Houghton, and get a pipe running east-west accross the U.P.

Of course, I guess it depends on whether you're trying to bring service to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who lives up there, or if you're just trying to connect major cities and leave the plebes to the cable/telcos.

BTW, it'd be really tough for wireless to work up there; Not only is there still alot of Fe in the ground, but the U.P. isn't exactly flat. You'd have really short line of sight, unless you went satellite.

One way to get broadband deployed is to give out grants to Michigan counties through legislation. You may or may not be familiar with Michigan Gov. John Engler's plan, LinkMichigan. It was recently bashed in the Wall Street Journal, but it looks as though this legislation will soon become law. If and when it does, I will be working with people in six NorthEastern Michigan counties to develop a Request For Proposal (RFP) to get broadband available.

Some of the problems that this legislation will deal with is the problem of the LEC's and right's of way. This will lower the barrier to entry by establishing a single, statewide right-of-way authority with one uniform, statewide application process and fee. With help from government, broadband providers will be able to come in and provide the much needed service.

However, I do think that if this is to succeed, simply allowing more people to subscribe to DSL in rural areas is not the answer. I'm sorry, but DSL is NOT broadband. DSL is simply a faster version of a 56K modem. Broadband of the future will be receiving all of your telecommunication services over one medium... fiber optics. By laying fiber to the home, you will be able to get phone service, internet service, video on demand, and all the channels on tv that you could dream of. If all that this legislation produces is Ameritech offering DSL to a larger subscriber base, then this will simply be misguided ambition and a lot of poorly spent tax dollars.

One interesting sidenote.... In the last few years, enough money has been invested into failed CLEC's to lay fiber optics to every home in America. Just because its an open market, it doesn't mean that people invest wisely.

We, in Holland Michigan (Birthplace of Slashdot!), have been struggling with this for quite a while, as we have a City-owned fiber infrastructure, and a city ordinance that restricts commercial fiber build-outs. The local residents have suffered because the local cable company (now AT&T) has been very slow to provide enhanced cable services (read digital cable and cable Internet access) because of the restrictions. Currently the City cannot actively compete as a CLEC due to municipal law. They are trying to change that.

It's quite a battle here in Michigan with Ameritech. They will do all in their power to protect their Monopoly/Oligopoly. Lots of info available at Neil Lehto's page

The all-important, all-missing, Last Mile alternatives are what drives Municipalities to enter the communications infrastructure foray. Residents and resident business demand broadband, and can't get it (cost-effectively or at all) from their local communications provider. The advent of Broadband Cable and wireless, however, puts any Municipal infrastructure solution further down on the list for resolving last mile communications problems.

We, in Holland Michigan (Birthplace of Slashdot!), have been struggling with this for quite a while, as we have a City-owned fiber infrastructure, and a city ordinance that restricts commercial fiber build-outs. The local residents have suffered because the local cable company (now AT&T) has been very slow to provide enhanced cable services (read digital cable and cable Internet access) because of the restrictions. Currently the City cannot actively compete as a CLEC due to municipal law. They are trying to change that.

It's quite a battle here in Michigan with Ameritech. They will do all in their power to protect their Monopoly/Oligopoly. Lots of info available at Neil Lehto's page

The all-important, all-missing, Last Mile alternatives are what drives Municipalities to enter the communications infrastructure foray. Residents and resident business demand broadband, and can't get it (cost-effectively or at all) from their local communications provider. The advent of Broadband Cable and wireless, however, puts any Municipal infrastructure solution further down on the list for resolving last mile communications problems.