— The Montgomery Advertiser on Internet access: Utility
infrastructure once meant electricity, natural gas, water,
sewers, telephone service and cable television. Now Internet
access is an important part of the infrastructure, not simply
for entertainment, but for a wide array of information and
communications services. That reality makes a report from the
Census Bureau on Internet access of particular interest to
Alabama, which has one of the nation's lowest rates of in-home
Internet access. Only five states — Mississippi, New Mexico,
Arkansas, Kentucky and Indiana — ranked lower than Alabama in
the report. Sixty-seven percent of Alabamians live in households
with Internet access, well below the national average of 75.9
percent. This is more than a question of convenience. Internet
access is increasingly more important, all the more so in a
tough economy, where many job searches are conducted and many
employment applications are initiated online. For students,
Internet access is often a significant element i