Digital Union

Vinton Wireless Project

Update on the Vinton wireless project

Ohio State University has partnered with Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), and the American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC) to bring broadband Internet access to rural Ohio. Once the “pipe” is laid the team also arranges for the delivery of educational content over that pipe. The latest community to be brought online was Vinton, Ohio in the Spring of 2007. At Ohio State, we believe in supporting information access for all Ohioans, and are working to make that possible.

As of March of this year we have completed the network deployment for Vinton, Ohio. Over a two day span we installed a satellite based WAN connection and a wireless hotspot targeted at covering a majority of the town center.

In May, we returned to town to introduce the community to its new network. Town residents were invited to hear a panel consisting of the network development and deployment team, local leadership, and the educational partners of the project. The roughly 20 residents in attendance heard an overview of the network, a description of the educational opportunities available, and got an overview of how to get connected.

Since that meeting Kingsley Meyer, the local support person from University of Rio Grande, has made more then a dozen house calls and connected houses to the network. In addition, several courses have been offered at the learning center. The network has been operational non-stop since deployment in March.

Press Coverage
of Rural Wireless Projects

• "Internet to Go West,"
  Columbus Dispatch, June 26, 2003
• "Switchboard in the Sky,"
  New York Times, June 3, 2006
• "On Ramp to Opportunity,"
  Columbus Dispatch, June 24, 2006
• "No More Life in Internet Slow Lane for Rural Town,"
  Columbus Dispatch, June 16, 2006
• "Broadband Access Set for Vinton,"
  Gallipolis Daily Tribune, June 22, 2007

Related
Digital Union Blog Articles

• "Community Wireless Project," by Gabe Moulton