Jim Baller is one the most experienced and knowledgeable people in America on public broadband issues. He is the founder of Baller Herbst Law Group, with offices in Washington and Minneapolis. The Baller Herbst website is a great resource, particularly information on the Broadband Stimulus component of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

In February, the Cook County Broadband Initiative, which includes members from multiple Cook County organizations, launched an Ultrabroadband Feasibility Project. The purpose of this project is to determine the viability of upgrading the community's current infrastructure to include a highspeed ultrabroadband network. This network will support faster services, provide more choices for telephone, television and internet providers, as well as prepare us for the next generation of health, education and energy services.

The first step of this project will be to perform a market survey of residents and business owners' current use of these services. In the next two weeks CCG Consulting will begin calling on residents and seasonal property owners to gather information. This will provide the foundation for designing the system they will recommend the community consider building.

They will ask if you subscribe to a television service, and if so, how much you pay for that service. They will ask the same for telephone and internet services. They will also ask you about your satisfaction with your current provider for each of these service providers.

All of your answers will be anonymous. Please take the time to answer the questions if you can. Your input will help provide a more accurate picture of our community's use of these services and therefore a better decision-making tool going forward. When the survey is done the results will be made available on the project website. Please visit http://cookcountybroadband.com for more information.