Loading ...Lake-area Internet users want better, faster service, or in some cases, any service. It’s coming. But when, is the question.
How’s your high-speed Internet connection, Smith Mountain Lake? Wait, do you even have a connection?
“I have dial-up at home,” said Brad Enslow. “The dial-up just drives you nuts to sit there and wait and wait.”
Instead, the Moneta resident, laptop in tow, heads to a lake restaurant such as Solid Ground Coffee & Tea, El Torito or Jonathan’s that offers free wireless Internet access to paying customers.
He’s not alone. On any given morning, between breakfast and lunch, Solid Ground Coffee & Tea is filled with customers surfing the Web while sipping on coffee.
Sebastiano Stia owns a house at the lake but spends most of the year in New England. While high-speed Internet is available at his Moneta home, he said he’s not at the lake often enough to warrant paying for the service.
“I can come here, have a nice cup of coffee and relax,” said Stia. “They get a customer and I get access.”
But not everyone at the lake doesn’t have Internet access by choice. Some live in dead zones, those pockets that signals don’t reach.
There are ongoing measures in Bedford and Franklin counties, as well as at various Internet companies, to blanket the area to ensure everyone who wants access has it.
Read the full article by Laurie Edwards, published on August 28th, 2009:
www.smithmountainlake.com/lifeStyle/lakerWeekly/wb/216847
