'Article' was propoganda

To the editor:
I received The Circulator in Ridgeville today and on the front page is an article called, “Fair Access For All.” I think you missed a disclaimer somewhere that this is an opinion not a fact. 
Actually it is an advertisement for the telecom industry — mostly telephone companies. This little website www.saveruralbroadband.org has nothing at all to do with broadband.
It is a matter that the FCC has decided to shut down the Universal Service Fund (USF) that paid to have copper phone lines put in the ground. 
The rural phone companies have squandered that money that they were paid and have not expanded nor kept up with the times to provide rural customers with even decent phone service let alone quality Broadband. 
The real issue is that it is not technically possible to supply high-speed Internet over copper lines in rural areas.  That is why the FCC has replaced the USF with CAF (Connect America Fund), which will do the same thing but require that a company provide Broadband as well as voice to get funding. 
This article is not accurate at all and should have never been printed. 
Actually there is a group of local companies called WISP (Wireless Internet Service Providers) that service Jay and Randolph Counties with High Speed internet that have taken no tax dollars and all we do is contribute to the local economy. 
If you would like to know more about this or my thoughts on these changes to USF you can contact me at (765) 584-2288 or  [email protected].
Steve Barnes
General Manager
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