Region's Web speed crawls behind state, nation

The computer in Calan Maddox’s condo is not just a computer.

Wired to a fiber-optic network, it is what technology experts say more computers will be in years to come: a TV and a gaming system, able to transfer videos in seconds. Maddox said he has no trouble transferring files to Frito Lay, where he works.

“This is the best stuff I’ve ever used right here,” said Maddox, a Gladys native who now lives in Lynchburg’s Cornerstone community. “It’s real fantastic.”

On Thursday, a speed test showed Maddox’s Internet connection downloading at 18 megabits per second. That’s five times faster than the average connection in the Lynchburg area, a new report on Internet speeds shows.

The 2009 Speed Matters report by Communication Workers of America also shows that the region’s speed lags behind the state and the nation.

The report details the Internet speed in communities across the nation based on speed tests conducted by Internet users. CWA officials say, and Central Virginia leaders agree, that high-speed Internet will be crucial to keeping up with the evolving economy.

“We need to do a lot to increase our speed so we can have global competitiveness,” said CWA economist Kenneth Peres.

The U.S. average download speed is 5.1 mbps, the Speed Matters data shows. But South Korea’s average speed is 20.4 mbps, and Japan, Sweden and the Netherlands have speeds greater than 10 mbps.

Between May 2008 and May 2009, there were 901 Speed Matters tests run in Lynchburg and Bedford cities and the counties of Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, Campbell. The average download speed was 3 mbps. That is slower than the average speed in Danville, Roanoke and Richmond, and the statewide average of 7.9 mbps.

CWA wants the federal government to set a goal of a national average of 10 mbps download and 1 mbps upload.

Speeds like that aren’t needed for some uses of the Internet. Jonathan Whitt, director of the Region 2000 Technology Council, said that a person sending e-mail or reading a Web page won’t notice different speeds. But “if you’re downloading … music, watching streaming videos, then you’ll notice the difference in your speed,” he said. “(And) who’s not doing video now?”

“As time goes on, the need for capacity and for speed has increased significantly,” Peres said. “A few years ago, dialup seemed OK.”

Peres said high Internet speeds are necessary for applications such as medical monitoring for in-home patients, two-way video conferencing for distance education, and rural economic development.

Internet speed was the top requirement for TRAX International, an engineering company, when it looked for a new location in Lynchburg.

This year TRAX consolidated its several Lynchburg-area locations into a building it renovated on Fort Avenue.

“As we were looking at the locations, whether they be in Bedford or the city of Lynchburg, the availability of fiber-optic Internet was at the top of the list that would qualify or disqualify a building,” said Steve Justice, CIO for TRAX.

Fiber-optic cables give more speed and bandwidth than other hardware. Many Internet providers use fiber-optic cables in their infrastructure, but the data hits the brakes on the copper wires that carry it into a home.

TRAX needed fiber-optic wiring all the way to its office because it hosts a data center used by 1,700 TRAX employees around the world. Also, Lynchburg-based TRAX engineers transmit large files to clients.

Lynchburg’s Economic Development Authority paid $27,369 to link the building to the city’s fiber-optic network, which is owned by nTelos. “You wouldn’t see the data center, you wouldn’t see the kind of operation that we have” without that fiber link, said John Kenney, manager of TRAX in Lynchburg.

Many businesses in Lynchburg use the city’s fiber-optic network, but the Cornerstone subdivision off of Greenview Drive is the only place in the region where fiber-optic lines go into people’s homes. There, nTelos charges $79.95 for its plan that downloads at 20 mbps, giving discounts to customers who buy cable or phone service, too.

Penny Colbird, who lives with Maddox in Cornerstone, said they pay about the same amount she paid for cable Internet before. “I think it’s been worth it,” she said.

Andrew Overby, a Liberty University student who recently moved to Cornerstone, was planning to get the fastest fiber-optic Internet there until he learned the price. He said it was “ridiculous.” He signed up for a less expensive nTelos plan.

Peres said that the Speed Matters tests measure the speed that users choose to pay for, although faster options may be available.

In the Lynchburg area, Comcast, JetBroadband and Verizon each offer plans that promise faster downloads than average, but those plans cost anywhere from $10 to $20 more than their slower plans.

Bryan David, director of the Region 2000 Economic Development Council, said those providers can provide whatever amount of speed and bandwidth a company could need in order to locate here.

A larger issue for David is that some parts of the region still have no Internet access other than slow dialup or unreliable satellite access. He believes the answer to that problem is for local governments to work with Internet providers to extend access through public-private partnerships.

This year David has helped the counties of Amherst and Bedford set up broadband authorities to work on such projects.

Peres said the federal government needs to encourage Internet providers to expand to areas where profit alone won’t compel them to take broadband.

The $7.2 billion that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act set aside for broadband projects is a start, but more work will be needed to catch up with other nations, he said. “Instead of behind, we should be in the lead, because, actually, the Internet was developed here.”