I grew up in rural America, but moved to Houston, our fourth largest city, 24 years ago.  When I visit my parents in rural Louisiana I am reminded just how slow dialup Internet connections really is these days because websites are being designed for broadband access, not dialup access.  Just loading up a page on Godaddy with an average connection speed at their house of 42 to 50 K mbs takes minutes, not seconds.  I gave up surfing the web from my parents home 3 years ago.  So, I can really appreciate our government taking an interest in bringing broadband to rural communities.  Notice, I didn’t say I agree with it or think it will be a moneymaker, I just said I can appreciate it. 

So why I’m I knocking or questioning the USDA’s action.  Take a look at Open Range’s website and you’ll know first hand.  Just visit http://www.openrangecomm.com/ for a second and you’ll see it’s nothing more than a one-page place holder with an email address on it.  The email address is for a PR guy with a small company called Percepture.com.   Is this a wise investment of our tax dollars?  Gee, I wish I could come up with and idea and a placeholder domain and get $257 million dedicated to my next cause. 

Check it out and tell me what you think.