Navajo Nation likely to lose Internet service

Navajo Nation likely to lose Internet service

www.cnn.com

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) -- The thousands of Navajo Nation residents who rely on the Internet to work, study and communicate across their 27,000-square-mile reservation will be out of luck Monday, if their service provider shuts access as planned.

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This is really sad. It's not enough that they're basically a third World country living within the United States, but now they want to take their internet services away from them too.

This is like a phone system, educational tool, work resource, and source of entertainment all rolled up into one big package. When do these people finally stop getting screwed over?

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This has been coming for a while... the tribe is upset over a double billing issue the company refuses to respond too...
anyway something like 25,000 will be without an ISP that includes a couple of schools and a library...

When you said third world country...well that's not quite true...its more like a people who all around them the see what the 21st century has to offer but at every turn are denied the most basic of services... think I'm kidding watch the Google vid The Water Haulers
Internet is nothing 70,000 people on the Navajo Nation live without easy access to one of the most basic necessities of life, drinking water!

This is horrible. How are these people supposed to work, educate children in their schools, etc.? Yet one more time the First Nations get screwed.

This seems like a simple issue to resolve in the 21st century. The USAC should continue to fund the ISP for the next several years needed to complete the wireless system on the reservation. Then after the wireess system is operational, conclude the audit.

That will have the additional benefit of giving the responsible parties the time and "incentive" to correct their past errors.

Ok, so an audit reveals that OnSat may have double-billed, which throws up a flag about how they request bids. So, The USAC decides to withhold $2.1 million from OnSat, which in turn prevents them from paying SES Americom for satellite time.

www.startribune.com...

Seems to me someone jus needs to revisit some paper work and get this mess figured out before, what, some 25,000 people lose access.

Another thought, I completely understand the panic like feeling that washes over you when you are going to, or, have already lost your only internet connection. I recently lived throught that for not paying my bill on time. It can shut your life down, especially when you do your banking and billing online. But, they keep mentioning that the schools and librarys won't have internet access.

How do we teach our kids and do research without the internet?! Simple, the old fashioned way. If internet access is so important, then someone will get this all worked out. Otherwise, god forbid someone will have to open a good ol' fashioned book. I don't understand how this could even make headlines. Like someone posted above, what about the tens of thousands without clean drinking water??

If you've ever read any of the Tony Hillerman Joe Leaphorn or Jim Chee novels, Hillerman's words open a window for you into the Navajo culture, way of life, and religion.

Although the stories are fictional, they're based on factual information about day to day living on the reservation. Hillerman has even been honored with the Navajo Tribe's Special Friends of the Diné Award for his books.

When Daddybare mentioned the water problem, I immediately knew what he was referring to, as well as the lack of availability of the modern day convenience that most of us take for granted. Their phone service is limited in some regions or altogether missing in others, water must be hauled long distances to their homes, roads are poorly maintained and substandard, and good medical care and educational opportunities are at a premium.

I'd imagine they use the internet extensively because the schools simply lack the funding for modern libraries and reference materials. It will be a real tragedy if their one connection to the outside world is severed because of somebody elses ineptitude.

[edit on 4/4/08 by LLoyd45]

reply to post by LLoyd45


LLoyd Not only do I live in New Mexico I'm Jicarilla...that's an Apache tribe that called a patch a ground just east of the Navajos home... I have an Aunt who lives just out side of Ship Rock...we were just there over Easter.
I know first hand what goes on up there.

Anyway to people who cant get their minds around just how rural this part of the world is let me just say in some places White People are nothing more than a Myth used to make bad children behave... However the nation is one the largest in the country and that REZ is larger than a couple of eastern states

[edit on 4-4-2008 by DaddyBare]

reply to post by DaddyBare
That's really cool Daddybare, I have to say I envy you. Maybe not the lack of modern conveniences, but the culture and heritage you have. Most people have no idea of their ancestry or the origins of there people.

I'm supposed to be Scotch-Irish-Indian on my Grandmother's side. As for my paternal side of the family, I haven't a clue. It's kind of sad when you don't know your own roots.

I've always wanted to move to your part of the country, but here I sit. family ties are hard to sever I guess.