7A

1. The opportunity I will be focusing on is the opportunity I talked about in my previous assignments. The opportunity I will be focusing on now is the bandwidth problems that we have in America. Many children in the country that go to school everyday are having problems with their education because they don’t have access to the internet. This happens because the internet is very expensive and because the quality of the most basic internet plan is very poor. Many college students also have bandwidth problems because of the cost of an internet connection. Many college students are forced to get to their nearest library to get their work done because they cannot work at home.

2. The who: Cable companies in the United States

The what: It is still 2019 and we still don’t have a cheap internet plan with a decent connection.

The why: Cable companies are trying to maximize their profits no matter what it takes.

3. Hypothesis: I believe that the government should create a program for college students and school kids that allows them to have at least an internet connection in their homes. This program will consist of the government paying the basic internet bill for these people for their educational purposes.

Testing who: I will mostly be testing college students. I will also be testing some parents that have kids that go to school and have bandwidth problems at home.

Testing what: All college students and parents in the country  have at least some knowledge of the bandwidth issues we have in our country. When you don’t have access to the internet back at home  and you need to get some school work done what is your solution?

Testing why: I have read some articles that some of the children that go to school are getting help from the government to pay up their internet bills. I would like to know if this also happens to college students with a low income. Some people may have received some help from the government to pay for their internet connection but some of them don’t. 

4. Interview #1

The first person I interviewed was a 21 year old female that studies journalism. When I asked her if she thought this was an opportunity(explained to her what an opportunity was) she told me that she has heard about this opportunity. Despite knowing the opportunity exists, she explained to me that she has never had bandwidth problems. However, she told me that even though she doesn’t have internet connection problems at home, the opportunity still exists. The reason is that she had a friend when she was in highschool that had to go to her house to do homework because her parents were in a tight economic situation. She also told me that her friend is now a college student and that she has to go to the library to do everything because paying for an internet plan is still not affordable for her.

Interview #2

My second interview was a very uncomfortable situation for me since I was interviewing a campus maintenance employee. He was very brief(time issues) but at least I managed to get some feedback. He told me that he has 2 kids in school and that he pays a monthly internet bill of $60. I asked him if he thought we have a bandwidth opportunity in the country and he told me that he believes so. He told me that even though he only has 2 kids, paying for a $60 bill for internet plus a phone plan every month was a burden. He told me that paying an internet connection while having 2 kids is very hard. He also told me that he can’t imagine what is like for a household of 3 or more children. If someone has 3 or more children and have to provide food for them , spending  $60 for an internet connection must be unbearable.

Interview #3

My third interview was a very interesting one. It was the interviewed i learned the most. I interviewed a freshman that had bright futures. I asked him if he thought the country had this opportunity and he told me that he didn’t think this is a  real opportunity. He told me that he comes from a low income household from South Florida. However, that has not stopped him from having an internet connection in his household. He told me that his school had a program in which kids with strong economic problems were able to get free internet access in their home. So basically the government paid for his internet bills. He told me that he didn’t know if all public schools had programs like this. However, the main reason he told me he didn’t believe in this opportunity is because the government is already providing low income households that currently have kids in school with free internet access in their homes.

Interview #4

This interview was very emotional for me.  I decided to interview the first person I crossed paths with  in the Reitz Union food court. The person I interviewed was a 19 year old college student. As always, I asked him if he thought the U.S. has bandwidth issues and he said yes. He told me that when he was in highschool he had to go to his friends' houses to do homework. From one of my previous interviews I learned that some schools offered some of their students a free internet connection at home if they are having issues at home. He told me that he was not familiar with this type of programs and that he has always struggled with bandwidth issues. I asked how he is managing  now and he of course told me that he does everything in the library. I also asked why he didn't go to a public library in the place he lived and he told me that the nearest library in his hometown is 30 minutes away from where he lived.

Interview#5

The last person I interviewed was one of the cleaning ladies that works at the Reitz Union. Like the maintenance employee I interviewed ,she didn’t have that much time. I started by asking if she believed the U.S. has bandwidth problems and she told me that she did believe so. She told me she has a family of 3 children and that she is single. She told me that she couldn’t afford an internet connection for her kids because she prefers to spend her extra cash in food for her children. I asked her if she was aware of the free internet programs schools have and she told me that she was aware. She now uses the program but  before enrolling into the program with the school , she was bringing her kids to UF to do there homework. She told me that even if some schools are providing free internet for some students, the fact that school officials have to do something about it means that the opportunity exists.

Reflection: Before having this interviews I thought that almost every  college student and school kid were having this opportunity. I guess I was wrong. Mast of the people I interviewed have received help from their local public schools to assist them with a free internet connection in their households. However, some of the people I interviewed still pay for internet access in their homes. I learned that not every school has a program in which a free internet connection is provided to the students that cannot afford to pay for a connection. I also learned that even though this opportunity exists, people still come up with their own solutions . After this interview, I still think that this opportunity because at least some of the people I interviewed are facing bandwidth problems.