Off the beaten path and off the wireless revolution: The New York Times writes about how people's pursuit of a little peace and quiet might bring them too much quiet. No cell phone service unless they contort themselves, and no wired broadband Internet. Newer gated and resort communities are factoring in the cost of bringing out high-speed service--without it, they're not a sell.
The article mentions several projects close to my interest, including Wi-Ran, the rolling WLAN installed on Hampton Jitneys that I wrote about for the Times a year ago July (it's about fully installed on buses now); Fire Island Wireless, a tireless effort by Wi-Ran and CEDX's Craig Plunkett to bring one element of the 21st century to that not so distant place; and Nantucket's WiBlast, pushing broadband wireless across Melville's old stomping grounds.
There's an argument that comes up whenever one discusses bringing broadband to places people go to escape: isn't the whole point of escaping disconnecting? It's true. But there's another part of this, which is that smaller communities are more likely to thrive these days when people can remain connected to the rest of the world while they're there. Many communities further and further afield from urban centers--so-called exurbs or even pure small town--have better economies because of telecommuters or small businesses that don't need to be in the middle of it all.