BY SHERI McWHIRTER
GAYLORD -- Broadband Internet is hit-or-miss in rural northern Lower Michigan, a challenge a new nonprofit cooperative group intends to confront.
More than 100 residents, Internet providers, business and public officials are expected to attend the organizational meeting of the Northern Michigan Broadband Development Cooperative today in Gaylord. The group will pool resources and find ways to provide high-speed Internet service to the most out-of-the-way spots in the northern reaches of the Lower Peninsula, officials said.
"When it comes to broadband, I'd consider anything," said Christopher Nelson, technology director at East Jordan Schools, who will attend the group's first meeting and said he'd love to see broadband access improved across the region.
Telephone and cable companies don't make enough profit in rural areas to provide Internet services and limited wireless access developed across the region because of geography and vegetation, said Chuck Scott, a cooperative organizer and service provider from Petoskey.
"A nonprofit broadband cooperative is attractive to the larger and smaller Internet users and you can use that community nature to encourage others to participate," Scott said.
The cooperative will combine resources from areas with both low and high population to share responsibility for infrastructure upgrades. The model could attract low-interest development loans, government grant programs and donations, Scott said.
One resident looking forward to improvements is Donna Curiak, who works from her home in eastern Otsego County.
"There are no broadband services in Johannesburg. All we have is dial-up and it's painfully slow," she said.
Curiak plans to attend the meeting and said she hopes a broadband cooperative works as well as have electric and gas co-ops.
"I think there's a lot of pent-up frustration about not being able to get high-speed Internet in some areas," said Diane Rekowski, executive director of the Northeast Michigan Council of Governments, one of the meeting sponsors.
The lack of online connections suppresses economic development, hinders education and negatively affects quality of life, she said. So, if there's enough interest at today's meeting, Rekowski said the group will organize and begin efforts to improve broadband availability to a 12-county region that includes Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Crawford, Emmet, Kalkaska and Otsego counties.
The meeting is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at the University Center in Gaylord, Rekowski said.
