Representative Gary Haluska
323 Mellon Avenue
Suite 1
Patton, PA 16668
Dear Mr. Haluska
My name is Amanda Kline and I am writing this letter to inform you that I believe Pennsylvania needs help with its broadband. I am a student in Cambria Country. We need to put more effort in to putting Broadband across Pennsylvania homes. I am a cyber school student. Which means I use the Internet everyday to do my schoolwork. I need the best internet connection possible in order to this. Myself, along with hundreds of other students, rely on our broadband indefinitely.
Across America broadband is being spread and used. People in rural areas have to mess with the unreliable dial-up connection. This makes it difficult to use the internet at all. Many decide to give up on the internet, but with broadband we can fix this problem. Broadband will allow thousands of people to experience the internet like I do. Me and a group of other students have done intent research. We have found out that Broadband is the most safe, reliable, easy and fastest way to use the internet.
The internet will better our economy as well. It will open jobs to those who choose to pursue an internet career such as a online store or business. Our economy can use all the help it can receive. Giving the people broadband will allow them to boost our economy. Allowing us to live an easier less stressful life. I have weighed the options and found the Broadband is the best choice for all.
I hope that you feel the same as hundreds of other citizens throughout Pennsylvania. I strongly urge you take this idea and use it in legislation.
Thank You
Sincerely,
Amanda Kline
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Amanda Kline June 8, 2010
DearPeter Daley,
My name is Sarah Boyer. I am currently a junior at Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School. I am concerned about broadband coverage in our state, Pennsylvania. Right now as I am writing this letter, I am looking at a map of broadband coverage and I am really surprised! I have been doing a lot of research on broadband and how something needs to be done about the coverage in Pennsylvania.
I am fortunate enough to live in an area that has broadband available. I would not be able to be cyber schooled if I were like the many with dial-up, DSL, cable modem, or even no Internet access. Going back to this map there is very little broadband coverage. Where there is not broadband coverage their is dial-up, DSL, and even nothing! This is not a good thing. Dial-up is slow and makes it hard for people to get on the Internet to do things such as job searching or checking the weather
Broadband is important to many aspects in our everyday life. Checking the weather, researching for college, and finding a job are some things that people could use the Internet for everyday. As with me, broadband makes it possible for me to get on quicking and do school without having to wait for pages to load for a slow Internet provider such as dial-up. I know of many people who use broadband Internet as a way to do their job, start a business, and communicate with far away friends. These things would be hard to do without broadband because it would take too long. Broadband could be used to stimulate our economy by online stores and such.
Bottom line is, I encourage you to step it up and push for legislations toward more broadband coverage all over Pennsylvania.
A concerned citizen,
Sarah Boyer
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Sarah Boyer June 4, 2010
Washington D.C. Office
1022 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Congressman Sestak,
Hello, my name is Lianna Magerr and I am a junior in highschool. I’m writing to encourage you to push for legislation that encourages the expansion of broadband connection everywhere.
I believe that broadband is a crucial part of technology, it allows individuals to access the internet in a stress free way. However, it also allows for a steadier flow of communication. There is so much information on the internet today, but it’s sadly just out of reach for a majority of Americans with sub par internet connection.
Broadband allows for large quantities of information to be processed without slowing down or freezing your computer. This high quality internet will soon become necessary. Many companies are upgrading their websites to become more interactive. Computers will need the capabilities that broadband can provide.
I can personally tell you that high-speed internet is not a luxury for me. The highschool I attend is a cyber school. I complete my academics on my computer, so trust worthy and quick internet is essential to my education. That concept is not exclusive, however, to cyber school. A great number to students are beginning to rely on the internet for research and learning. There are very few students who travel to the library these days, and who can blame them? With so many fantastic resources within reach on their computer it is only natural. The internet has become a permanent tool in the fabric of education, and as Americans we have an obligation to ensure that our educational system is of the highest quality it can be.
I hope you’ll consider this issue and reflect on how crucial broadband really is. It is so important to think about this matter now and start taking steps to address it. I strongly encourage you to push legislation that would provide broadband to each and every American so that they would not be denied all of the information they could have.
Your Truly,
Lianna Magerr
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Lianna Magerr June 3, 2010
June 1, 2010
Representative Gary Day
Northwest Centre, Suite 302
6299 Route 309
New Tripoli, PA 18066
Dear Mr. Gary Day,
My name is Maranda Powell and I am a high school student in Lehigh County. I am writing this because I believe we Pennsylvanians need to do more to spread broadband Internet access across our state. As a student in a cyber school, broadband Internet is very important to me personally. I, along with thousands of other cyber schooled student, have to go online every day in order to do schoolwork, and it would be difficult, or even impossible, to function without a reliable Internet connection. I am very thankful that my family has broadband Internet because I know what it is like to not have it. I know that there are millions of people in America, especially in rural areas, who have to struggle with slow, unreliable dial-up or no Internet access at all. Some people may say that broadband Internet is not a necessity, but people also said that about electricity when it was first being used.
Of course, many rural and not-so-rural areas of Pennsylvania get by with dial-up or satellite Internet. I see satellite Internet as an acceptable temporary solution, but it is often more expensive than broadband Internet and it is unreliable in imperfect weather conditions. I have found after extensive research that broadband is the most efficient, the fastest, the most reliable, and overall the superior source of Internet. Internet usage is increasing rapidly and we need to keep up with that demand by providing the best there is to offer.
As you must know, the Internet is very important to the economy. During this economic recession our country is going through, our economy needs all the help it can get to recover. I believe that lending some of our resources into providing better Internet service would be a worthy investment because it will encourage economic growth. A friend of my family has trusted online marketing enough to turn her whole successful business from a retail store into an online store. My father is beginning a business using the Internet. People can search for jobs on the Internet and shop over the Internet. Many more people would take advantage of this opportunity to improve their businesses via the Internet if broadband Internet was available to them.
I would strongly urge you to push for legislation that will provide broadband Internet access throughout your district. Thank you and God Bless you!
Sincerely,
Maranda Powell
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Maranda Powell June 1, 2010
Hey guys! I was wondering if you have started your letter to Congress about broadband? I haven’t started yet, but I am going to start it soon since the mid-marking period is over. I hope you guys will start it soon too because it seems like a very important project. It seems like it will be interesting and fun to do also! Have you guys found anything else interesting about our broadband issue? I have been researching more on this and I will share when I find something good.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Sarah Boyer May 27, 2010
I found this really interesting article about the spectrum of broadband across the United States. The author seems to want to expand broadband just like us. Pretty cool huh?
Here’s the link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20005831-266.html
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Amanda Kline May 25, 2010
Since our plan is to send out letters to our representatives I went and look up who my counties was, which is Gary Haluska. I am going to send a letter to his office which is in the town right beside mine! I’m excited for this, My mom has sent some things to him before and he takes it seriously. Hopefully we’ll get a good response!
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Amanda Kline May 25, 2010
We, the broadband group, have decided to send letters out to our representatives in the General Assembly. We want to let them know the importance of broadband internet access and ask them to make it available in our district. I found that my representative is Gary Day. He is a Republican and he represents part of Lehigh County and part of Berks County. One of his offices, in fact, is in New Tripoli, not far from where I live, so I am going to send my letter to that address.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Maranda Powell May 19, 2010
In my research, I found two great websites that can really help us out!
The first website is for the US Broadband Coalition. —->
They have outlined their own key objectives to accomplish:
-Analyze the Obama Administration’s new broadband initiatives.
-Analyze existing approaches to implementing broadband policy.
-Identify the best agency (if not the new CTO) to oversee the implementation of the national broadband strategy to ensure that existing and new federal programs are coordinated and reinforce the goals and policies of the national broadband strategy.
-Recommend a reporting process for the periodic review and assessment of new and existing programs in relation to the national broadband strategy’s goals as well as the formulation of recommendations for improvement.
-Identify successful implementation approaches that other nations are using and discuss their potential utility in the United States.
-Identify and recommend approaches to implementing the strategies that the Coalition will propose.
-Prepare for and participate in the Coalition’s event to be held in the Spring or early Summer of 2009, including designating speakers to present the report of the Working Group on Implementation.
-Serve as a resource for other working groups.
I thought this organization was very neat, very straightforward, and serves us to know that there is a lot of work ahead before we can accomplish connecting everyone to broadband. It’s good argument for the second objection that we are focusing on.
The second site, my favorite of the two, is for the National Broadband Plan, published by the FCC. It is PACKED with really informative, convincing information and key
points. —->
This website breaks things down pretty neat.
Objection 1: Broadband is a luxury.
Wrong. Broadband is not just a luxury anymore; it’s necessity. It enhances and improves many facets of society: education, economic opportunity, health care, energy and the environment, government performance, civic engagement, public safety, and more! the National Broadband Plan main page provides more details on these.
Objection 2: Broadband is not a hard problem to solve.
Wrong. A lot of work is being put in to implement the plans for national broadband. While the national government needs to take action, it is essential that local governments and communities dive in too. I found the section in the National Broadband Plan that briefly covers what will need to be done. It is a long, complex process, but the final outcome is definitely something worth striving for. Here is the direct link to the Implementation section of the plan:
http://www.broadband.gov/plan/17-implementation-and-benchmarks/
Beyond actually making broadband services available everywhere, there are many other obstacles ahead to get everybody on track. Here is a good breakdown of a few of these:
http://www.broadband.gov/issues/economic-opportunity.html
What do you think? 
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Bekah Randler April 6, 2010
Objection 1: Broadband is a luxury.
Objection 2: Broadband is not a hard problem to solve.
How will we address these two objections?
I found a great site that addresses Objection 1, the idea that broadband is a luxury. There were many sites arguing why broadband is now necessity, but this one is my favorite of the ones I’ve found. I like it because it highlights several day to day activities that broadband can be used for, and it makes reference to the constitution to present another strong reason why broadband should be available for all. It is a very clear argument as to why broadband is a necessity. These would be great points to use in our video.
Broadband allows people to use internet for:
job searching
communicating with family, friends, medical providers, government officials, and more
research and gathering information
business
education and schooling
“Each year, being digitally connected becomes more critical to economic and educational advancement and democratic participation.”
“Article 19: ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.’ Article 19 makes it clear that freedom of expression is the basis of individual and societal development. Communication enables the way we find, create and share knowledge. It should be a participatory and collaborative process, open to everyone.” In today’s society, broadband is an imperative resource for this to happen.
So, to sum up, the website is saying that broadband is being popularly used to carry out all of life’s daily activities, helping in the economy, furthering education, communicating, and so forth. Also, it is seen as necessity to fulfilling article 19 in our present day America. The article also talks about an advocacy network, The Media Action Grassroots Network, and their campaign to spread broadband. They are laying out plans to solving the broadband issue, which can lead us into argument with Objection 2!
These are just some parts I highlighted. The web address to this is:
http://www.reclaimthemedia.org/communications_rights/internet_access_no_longer_luxu2239
Check it out.
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged: Bekah Randler April 5, 2010
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