Rich Warren | The golden age of fast broadband internet access (2024)

The internet evolved from a novelty to a luxury to an essential part of life in the span of 30 years. This somewhat parallels the telephone a century ago. Yet, the versatile internet more firmly and ubiquitously ingrains itself in our lives than even the telephone. Only two companies provided telephone service during it’s approximately first 100 years, and you couldn’t choose between them.

AT&T served mostly major cities, while GTE served small towns and rural areas, with private exchanges filling in the gaps. The government dictated service standards (which GTE rarely met) and regulated rates. The government blew up the AT&T monopoly in 1982 (although GTE managed to survive for another couple of decades). Change slowly gathered speed year by year until the arrival of the public, popular internet ushered in a new telecommunications era about a decade later.

At first, the existing wired phone companies supplied internet connections. The tedious, undependable early dial-up access proved frustrating while barely unlocking the potential of the internet. It did not take long for the cable TV companies to jump in with superior, faster, always-on connections. Their coaxial cabling far better suited fast data transmission than the primitive twisted pairs of copper wires used by the phone companies.

However, in a return to the past, urban and suburban residents only had a choice of one cable company, and rural residents were left in the static of poor-quality phone company connections. In Champaign-Urbana, that meant Comcast (and its predecessors) and, in some satellite communities, Mediacom. Rates were very high and customer service infuriating. I’m writing this while on vacation in a place where the phone company’s downstream internet connection is 25 megabits per second (mbps), and upstream is barely 5 mbps. It regularly goes offline.

I bring tidings of comfort and joy. Locally owned and operated Volo Internet + Tech now offers service to most Champaign-Urbana residents and continues increasing its footprint in rural areas. Its gigabit (1000 mbps down and up) fiber service starts at $50 monthly. This is not a promotional rate. There are no hidden fees, expiring discounts or other “gotchas.” I can attest to this, because Volo began serving my neighborhood four years ago, and my rate has not changed by a nickel. Also, on the extremely rare occasions when service goes down, I can reach a friendly local customer-service person. If I email a question to Volo, someone usually responds within an hour.

While Volo has served select neighborhoods in town and some outlying communities for several years, it recently obtained access to the UC2B fiber network. Colloquially called “Big Broadband” when it started in 2012, UC2B consists of fiber-optic cables throughout the Twin Cities as part of a project of Champaign, Urbana and the University of Illinois. Designed as “open access,” meaning any company could use it, only i3 made limited use of it initially. Thus, Volo can offer its service without tearing up streets and sidewalks.

Thanks to the federal government’s infrastructure subsidies, Volo also is expanding service to currently unserved rural areas, although this will require burying new fiber along farm roads. For further information, you can go to volo.net, or call 217-367-8656.

Even if you fail to take advantage of Volo’s service, its low prices keeps the competition in line. That’s sort of like Aldi keeping other grocery stores honest, except unlike most food products, internet data bits are generic.

This truly marks the golden age of fast broadband internet access, although it is a shame that the government dropped its assistance to those with limited income. This allowed nearly everyone to afford broadband.

For those not in the immediate C-U area, and for those who wish to take their broadband internet access with them, there’s Starlink satellite and its forthcoming competitors. Our next column will feature Starlink.

On a sad note, radio lost one of its great hosts and managers. Jay Pearce died Aug. 21 in Urbana at age 69. Jay was the station manager of local NPR affiliate WILL Radio and occasional host of “Morning Edition” from 1998-2011. He also managed other Illinois stations during his long career in radio. I’ve worked with a few exceptionally talented broadcasters in my 54 years in radio, and Jay was one of them. His enthusiasm for radio was boundless, and he was a genuinely nice person.