Loudon county public schools

Broadband Extends Reach in Loudoun

But Many Still Lack Faster Web Option

As many as 9,000 Loudoun County residents and businesses -- most in the rural west -- do not have the option of subscribing to broadband Internet service, a county technology official said last week. But the number of people who must depend on dial-up or less reliable satellite service continues to shrink.

"We're making some good progress," said Scott W. Bashore, Loudoun's manager of strategic IT projects. "Two and a half years ago, the whole county had about 69 percent broadband availability. Now we're at about 86 percent."

Last week, three-year-old Loudoun Wireless announced that it had expanded its broadband service to a rural swath of northwestern Loudoun between Hillsboro and Lovettsville. The small Lovettsville company is one of several that serves western Loudoun with wireless technology.

The expansion prompted Mary Snyder, who lives 3 1/2 miles outside Lovettsville, to quickly ditch her AOL dial-up service in favor of Loudoun Wireless's broadband. "It's already making a big difference for my two teenagers, who need to use the Internet for their homework," she said.

More wireless service could be in the offing. The county Planning Commission recently approved proposals by two companies to build five telecommunications towers in western Loudoun and by another company to attach an antenna to a water tower, projects that could expand broadband and cellphone service. The proposals await approval by the Board of Supervisors.

High-speed Internet service remains a decidedly east vs. west story in Loudoun. Broadband behemoths Verizon and Comcast provide most of the service in the more developed east, but relatively little in the rural west, where there aren't enough customers to justify laying an extensive fiber-optic network.

Although Verizon and Comcast have brought broadband to some new communities in western Loudoun, most of the area is served by small local companies such as Loudoun Wireless, Roadstar Internet and Lucketts.net. These companies generally offer slower, more expensive broadband service that requires installation of a radio receiver on the side of the house or business.

Satellite Internet service also is an option for western Loudoun residents, but it is often less reliable than broadband, said Bashore, whose position was created in 2005 to improve the county's broadband access.

He said that even with the expansion announced last week, only about one in six houses and businesses has access to broadband in the northwestern corner of the county. Loudoun Wireless was able to offer high-speed service to more people by attaching an antenna to a 250-foot tower 3.8 miles northwest of Lovettsville that is owned by another company.

Loudoun Wireless's service costs $59 to $99 a month, depending on the speed of the connection. The minimum price is about four times as expensive as the lowest-priced plan offered by Verizon, at $14.99.

But rural residents such as Snyder say they have no choice, unless they want to stick with their excruciatingly slow dial-up service.

"For 10 years I had pitiful dial-up with AOL, which was sooooo slow," said Snyder, sales operations manager at Current Analysis, a Sterling market-research firm. "One of my biggest frustrations was going to the back-to-school nights and sitting there listening to the teachers tell the parents, 'Sometimes your children will have required homework that they will have to go on the Internet to do.' I had to raise my hand and say, 'Are you aware that there are some people in Loudoun County that don't have broadband access?' "

Snyder said she often had to take her teenage boys to the Lovettsville public library to find a high-speed Internet connection.

"The main reason I got broadband was for my kids to be successful in school," she said. "Loudoun County public schools almost require children to have [high-speed] Internet. Their schoolbooks are online. So instead of having to drag their 400-pound backpacks home, they can go to the publishers' Web sites. But with dial-up, my sons had to do the homework out of their books, or we'd have to drag them to the library in town."

Broadband service could get a boost in western Loudoun if the Board of Supervisors approves applications by Community Wireless Structures to build two towers in Leesburg, one in Waterford and one in Lovettsville. Sprint Nextel also has proposed to build a tower in Leesburg. And Verizon wants to attach an antenna to the water tower in Round Hill.

Although approved by the Planning Commission on Nov. 20, the projects have been opposed by many homeowners, who say they don't want telecommunications structures in their neighborhoods.

"All of these towers would be able to support additional broadband infrastructure," Bashore said. "Part of the current debate is over whether they are needed and, if so, which ones are needed. It's good to have this debate."

The public will have at least one more opportunity to weigh in. The Board of Supervisors has scheduled a Dec. 11 public hearing on the Verizon plan and a Jan. 8 hearing on the other proposals, a county official said. The January hearing will be the first hosted by the newly elected Democratic majority.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/01/AR2007120100109.html