We deserve better web options

[Commentary] Don't you love your cable guy, even if he now looks a lot like Coach Cowher? Beyond the hype, the story of our broadband future along the North Coast is not as rosy as you might think. While Crain's Cleveland Business got the story, the prospects of the very big, but not well understood, news about Charter Communications taking over household and business Internet services in Ohio begs the question of whether we're just chopped liver out here along Lake Erie. I'll cut to the chase. While lots of promises are being made in Washington (DC) and elsewhere, if one digs a little deeper, we in Cleveland are unlikely to see the benefits. We should demand better, we deserve better and we can do better.

[Gonick is CEO and co-founder of OneCommunity, a nonprofit provider of ultra-high-speed broadband services and programs.]