high-speed Internet access

Alabama officials have selected a Cincinnati company for a $1.7 million two-year contract to make Internet broadband service available in all areas of the southern state.

Currently, dial-up Internet access is available using telephone lines in most parts of the state, but the service is slow and sometimes unreliable.

Gov. Bob Riley said Monday his broadband project will make high-speed Internet access with cables or wireless connections available even in rural areas. He said customers will still have to buy Internet access from providers like cable television or phone companies.

Anthony Celestine was a latecomer to the Internet Age. The 40-year-old Harlem resident has owned a small Jani-King commercial cleaning franchise since 2004, but until recently, the New Yorker hadn't owned a computer or even surfed the Web or had an e-mail address. "I didn't know what none of that stuff was," he says.

President-elect Barack Obama recently announced an ambitious plan to build up the nation's Internet infrastructure as part of his proposed economic stimulus package.

Upgrading the Internet is a particularly smart kind of stimulus, one that would spread knowledge, promote entrepreneurship and make this country more competitive globally.

The United States has long been the world leader in technology, but when it comes to the Internet, it is fast falling behind. America ranks 15th in the world in access to high-speed Internet connections.

Barack Obama's presidency could spell major changes for the technology industry after years of limited White House attention.

According to Ed Black, president and chief executive of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, Tuesday's election outcome is good news for technology companies since the Obama camp has many tech-savvy advisers who understand the sector and its users. That was reflected in the Obama campaign's innovative use of technology and the Internet to organize volunteers, raise money and communicate with voters.

Besides the Presidential election, there's another big political battle brewing in Washington on Nov. 4. This one is over the airwaves that are used to deliver communications signals to consumers across the country, and like the race for the White House, this contest has created a big divide.

In many rural areas, people who want high-speed Internet access have only one option: relatively slow and expensive satellite dishes. Now parts of rural Vermont could get a new choice.

Phone company FairPoint Communications Inc. intends to beam Internet connections over radio waves to homes and business in the state, in what appears to be the largest planned U.S. deployment of "fixed wireless" technology as a substitute for wired Internet service.

Congress has passed legislation that will require the government to keep closer tabs on who has access to the Internet and who does not.

Supporters hope the Broadband Data Improvement Act will help policymakers better identify areas of the country that are falling behind when it comes to high-speed Internet access.

The bill passed both houses of Congress, with the Senate approving a final version Tuesday on a voice vote.

Just what we need: another way to get bombarded with personalized ads. Consumers are already spoon-fed ads based on the searches they conduct with tools like Google and Yahoo!; wireless service providers can send coupons, using call logs to track subscriber tastes and navigation tools to determine their whereabouts; and cable companies tailor local marketing messages to a viewer's neighborhood or city.

One of the Internet's founding fathers and a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission joined forces Tuesday in renewing calls for the U.S. government to more actively expand broadband service.

They and other members of a new coalition promised hearings across the country and set up a Web site at InternetForEveryone.org to outline principles such as universal access and competition to ensure lower prices and faster Internet connection speeds.

There may be 50 ways to leave your wireless carrier. Just don't do it before your contract is up -- or you'll be forced to pay a fat early-termination fee. That's the lot facing most U.S. consumers of communications services, from mobile calling to cable TV to high-speed Internet access.