Last Mile, High Speed Help for Upper Michigan?

toaztke asks: "I've been charged with a quest by one of my employers. I am to sit on a regional committee and figure out how we can get high speed internet access all across Michigan's Upper Peninsula. For those of you not too familiar with the far north of this state one word can describe it all: 'rural'. So what I would like to know is if any Slashdot readers have any ideas/suggestions for me. Please send anything that crosses your mind my way. If you want more information on the project, just visit the Link UP website."

Comments

Bars!

["Zow"]

Wiring the Upers, eh? Well, it may be rural, but there seem to be an abundance of bars. After all, anytime you ask for directions, it's always in relation to the bars. So all you have to do is run a T1 or so to every bar (not a small expense, to be sure, but sure better than wiring everyone), and set up a wireless access point with an antenna and booster. That might not cover the whole penensula, but it should cover most of the homes & businesses, and a good deal of the hunting grounds (don't know how important that will be for a few years though given the deer elimination this year).

And if you haven't figured it out by now, I'm kidding.

-"Zow"

Re:In expensive and reliable service

[PD]

The UP doesn't have much cable. People heat their cabins and homes with propane, delivered by truck, because gas lines don't go everywhere. Electricity is too expensive. It can be 20 miles drive to the nearest town, and when you get there, the sign says "Winnemanachaktah, population: 57". The only store in town is a 1 pump gas station (not a digital one) with a few necessities for sale. The real store is the Red Owl grocery 50 miles away in Ontanagon. Heavy traffic on the way to work means that it took you an hour to drive to the state forest where you work as a ranger instead of 45 minutes, because a Winnebago with Illinois plates was driving 45. Everybody says "Eh" after questions, but they aren't Canadian. Everyone can tell you exactly what they were doing when they heard the Fitzgerald went down, and everyone knows the words to the Lightfoot ballad "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

Anyway, the UP of Michigan is a wonderful place, with a long history of shipping, copper mining, logging, hunting, fishing, and other manly man sorts of things. I grew up in Michigan, and loved to go camping up there whenever I could get the chance. My favorite part is the Keewenaw Penninsula, especially the old British fort with the palisade fence at Copper Harbor.