WUNC 91.5, North Carolina Public Radio, recently introduced Greenlight to its audience. We have covered Wilson and Greenlight extensively since 2009. Will Michaels spoke with Will Aycock, highlighting the network’s gigabit status.
“We’re able to support the surveillance cameras and different sensors throughout the community to make us a smarter city. Certainly, we’re able to support many institutions here such as schools and libraries,” Aycock says.
“It’s really about removing the barriers between our residents, our institutions and the Internet so that people have all the bandwidth they need.”
In our 2013 case study, Carolina’s Connected Community: Wilson Gives Greenlight to Fast Inernet, we documented the benefits to the community. Aycock commented on the role the network plays in bringing new residents and business to Wilson:
“We’re actually seeing folks deciding to move to Wilson from other areas because they want access to this next-generation network,” he says.
“People even decide, if they’re going to build a house, where to build a house. For instance, radiologists want to be on the network because it helps them to more efficiently do their jobs from home.”
Now if North Carolina’s Legislature would just undo the 2011 power grab, when it passed legislation to revoke authority from communities to decide locally if building their own network made sense.