The Gainesville City Commission announced Wednesday its plan to improve internet speed in the city.
Following recent spikes in Cox Communication’s internet bills, a new organization called Connected Gainesville will investigate alternative options to provide residents with affordable and reliable internet access, Gainesville City Commissioner Adrian Hayes-Santos said.
“Our problem is a lack of competition,” he said. “We have one company that sells broadband internet in Gainesville, and they are taking advantage of that.”
Gainesville is currently paying the highest internet rates of any city in Florida, said Bryan Eastman, a member of Connected Gainesville.
The city’s rates are $100 more per year than Tallahassee, $250 more than Hollywood, Florida, and $450 more than St. Petersburg, Florida.
Additionally, 22 percent of Alachua County residents don’t have access to high-speed internet, Eastman said.
Without quality internet, students are forced to use free Wi-Fi in places like Starbucks or McDonald’s to do their homework, said Rob Hyatt, the chairman of the Alachua County Public School Board.
“Students are limited,” Hyatt said. “They’re going to have to work that much harder.”
Hayes-Santos said a lack of internet resources could cause students to fall behind and small businesses have no incentive to open in Gainesville.
“We need to ensure that we have a community that can work for everyone,” Hayes-Santos said.
The commissioner said he will work with Cox if it lowers its prices, but his main goal is to provide affordable internet to everyone in the city.
Hayes-Santos said he hopes to have new plans this fall and enact them in early 2018. He said until these possibilities become a reality, Gainesville will continue to lag behind.
“Gainesville residents deserve better, and our city commission needs to make that clear to them,” Hayes-Santos said.
The commissioners believe this is the first step in finding a solution to Gainesville’s internet deficit, Hyatt said. The study will look at cities like Huntsville, Alabama, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, which have partnered with other private companies like Google Fiber, as examples of what Gainesville could be.
Until then, Alachua County Commissioner Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson said he thinks that the city may fall behind in job creation, education and government services.
“We have a digital divide in our community,” Hutchinson said. “We need to fix that, and this is the effort that’s going to get it going.”
Once the plan is underway, Hutchinson said he believes Gainesville will be able to live up to its potential.
“We call ourselves the innovation city, and we’re trying to lead the innovation economy,” he said. “That’s not going to happen without broad-based broadband.”
