[MLUG - DISCUSSION] Re: [MLUG] Frame Relay or Better

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

(I've moved this off mlug onto discussion since I've moved the topic
over to something less technical.)

On Apr 7, 2005 8:10 AM, Spurling, Shannon <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> It's a flaw in the media and tech elite to think that "Fly over country"
> has the same physical access issues as the suburbs of some large metro
> area.

Uh...I don't know anybody who really thinks that.  It would be more
like the belief that nobody would chose to live in a truly rural
place.  There is also some ignorance about how large a metro has to be
to have some of the finer things in life, such as decent net access. 
Columbia is an obvious island in the middle of what I guess you'd call
an inaccessible ocean, which leads to some striking things.

Claritas tracks the marketing potential of zipcodes.  The top 5 groups
in Columbia, 65203 are this:

Number  Name
47 City Startups
44 New Beginnings
10 Second City Elite
52 Suburban Pioneers
22 Young Influentials

The number there is basically where on a list of richest (1) to
poorest (63 I think) a given market segment is.  This list is not
especially impressive; it's basically below average with a few richer
folks thrown in.
But when you move to their assessment of telecommunications usage and
sophistication, it's more like this:

Number Name
01 @ffluent Families
02 Empty-Nest eLite
50 High-Tech Wannabes
16 Trekking Techies
03 Wireless Home Businesses

A lot of people pay big bucks for this kind of thing here.  For a city
this size, this is frankly pretty jaw-dropping.  But if you move one
or two zipcodes over...nothing but static.  If I had to pick the
number one reason why a place like Columbia could continue to grow
rapidly even as counties around us lose population for the foreseeable
future, it's this.  Then next thing you know, there's half a dozen
wine shops in town and take-out sushi at the grocery store.  And then,
5 years later, Vern gets DSL. :-)

jking
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