Battle Cry of New Hampshire: No Fiber, No Votes

[Commentary] In the months to come, we may have upwards of 20 men and women, accompanied by zillions of staff and supporters, tromping around the great state of New Hampshire, making significant eye contact and asking for votes in preparation for the February 9 primary. And they will all have the same problem: They won’t be able to communicate. I don’t mean that they won’t be able to go to town halls and shake hands; there will be plenty of that. But their staffs will often find it incredibly frustrating to send around the large digital files  --  say, pictures, or video, or that killer PowerPoint presentation mapping county-by-county strategy  --  that are essential to any campaign. Why? Because New Hampshire, our nation’s 42nd most populous state, has lousy connectivity.

The FCC defines high-speed Internet access to be 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up these days, and more than a third of the rural population in New Hampshire (most of which votes Republican, by the way) can’t buy that kind of connection at any price. Fewer than one out of every six urban New Hampshire residents can buy that connection even if they want it: the wire just doesn’t exist in their town. So here’s a plea to the flinty people of New Hampshire: Don’t let those candidates leave the town meeting hall until they explain how they will open up your homes  -- and that of your rural brethren across the nation  --  to the 21st Century. We need a plan, and it will have to come from the top in order to work.

[Susan Crawford is co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University]