Key officials met at City Hall on Monday morning to discuss Internet upgrades in Pryor and surrounding areas.

Senator Sean Burrage, Representative Ben Sherrer and Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Dana Murphy were among those attending the informal meeting. They joined Mayor Jimmy Tramel, Lucy Belle Schultz, Barbara Hawkins, Bruce Taylor, John Hawkins and others to hear from AT&T; representatives.

AT&T; Director – Regulatory Jason Constable, and Craig Cromley, Area Manager, were there to discuss broadband service in general and to field questions on how Pryor can be progressive regarding Internet

service availability.

Constable presented a Powerpoint presentation to the group explaining broadband and showing statistics of industry growth as well as displaying a map of the city’s coverage.

Currently, approximately 74 percent of Pryor’s exchange is capable of

receiving DSL, according to Constable.

Wikipedia says the term exchange “can be used to refer to an area served by a particular switch (typically known as a wire center in the U.S. telecommunications industry). In some areas it can refer to the first three

digits of the local number.”

The remaining 26 percent is in need of the service, and according to those who attended, the entire Pryor network also needs an upgrade, to 3G or the

upcoming 4G capabilities.

John Hawkins of Integrated Insurance, asked about the 2001 tax break he said AT&T; received to help populate rural areas with tech-

nology. He asked where Pryor was on the list of those to receive help.

“What do we need to do to light Pryor up?” he said. “In Pryor, we need to move data. From a business standpoint, the need is there.”

“I don’t know of any plans to bring 3G to Pryor this next year,” Constable replied. “It’s not in the 2010 plan, but my guess is that it’s coming soon.”

Claremore has 3G broadband, encompass ing the Northeast Technology Center six miles west of town.

“Six miles and we could light up the community,” Barbara Hawkins, Pryor Area Chamber of Commerce said. “Is there a 2011 plan? How is this stuff decided, because it seems like there are smaller, more remote towns that are already lit up”

Cromley spoke frankly to the group.

“For 100 years what we had to provide was a dial tone,” he said of land telephone lines. “Over the last 20 years, there has been an explosion of mobile technology. Our challenge is basically trying to keep up.”

Constable told the group that AT&T; had actually seen a decrease in DSL subscribers since 2007 because of the rapidly rising use of mobile devices and mobile networks.

“Oklahoma is on the leading edge in the nation on dropping their land lines and going completely wireless,” Constable said.

Taylor shared a timeline of progress.

“You know, 150 years ago the railroad was the most important thing,” Taylor said. “St Louis was built because of railroads. Had to get things transported. Then in the 1930s and 40s, it was concrete. Had to build those roads. Today, it’s high-speed data communications.”

Taylor expressed appreciation for all that state and local officials along with AT&T; have accomplished to date, but warned that more work is needed.

“I’ll be honest with you,” he said. “I was surprised Google came here, because we don’t have the Internet infrastructure here. They won’t be able to put up with that, I can just promise you.”

Tramel recognized the importance of a plan that endures elective terms.

“We plan something and then several years later, I’m gone, maybe you’re gone and then what happens? I want to make sure there’s a plan in place so we’re not right back in this place trying to do the same thing,” Tramel said. “How do I get there?”

“I don’t believe that Pryor is necessarily behind,” Constable said, adding that extreme south Pryor will be DSL ready by mid to late January after a new DSLAM is installed to power the service to that area.

A DSLAM is a Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer. The DSLAM connects many customer lines to one high-speed Internet access point. A remote DSLAM extends the reach of service.

Basically, the reason for not making Pryor a priority in upgrades is financial, according to Sherrer.

“At the end of the day, it’s financial,” he said. “You’re a business. You’re not going to increase the technology in this area, just ‘cause we’re nice folks.”

Burrage provided the solution.

“If you want, you can just give us 4G and

U-verse. We won’t tell anybody,” he said to laughter.