Tom Hubbard can't get the high-speed Internet access he needs to send large photo files for his abstract digital art, and he doesn't live in Appalachia or rural Ohio.

He lives 10 miles west of the Statehouse, in Brown Township.

That's why Hubbard, who says one of the reasons he voted for Gov. Ted Strickland was his promise to make high-speed Internet available to more Ohioans, is skeptical of the governor's "Connect Ohio" initiative.

"If they can't wire all of Franklin County, how are they going to get it in Appalachia?" asked Hubbard, 78, a retired associate professor of journalism at Ohio State University.

But Strickland said yesterday that efforts are under way to bring broadband service to Hubbard and other Ohioans who lack it through Connect Ohio, a public-private partnership launched last December.

Strickland spoke yesterday in Columbus at the first of six events planned nationwide by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the nonprofit Connected Nation to promote the importance of broadband access.

The first step in Ohio has been to map where the coverage gaps exist in the state, and the initial map is expected to be completed by June 27, said Brent Legg of Connect Ohio.

The plan also calls for setting up "e-community leadership teams" in all 88 counties to develop customized plans for broad-band service and helping residents who can't afford computers or access get connected.

The idea is to show the demand for high-speed Internet access to encourage providers to offer it, as well as to educate residents who aren't taking advantage of the educational and job opportunities that broadband can provide.

Yesterday, Strickland accepted a $200,000 check from the Ohio Telecom Association to supplement the $2.9 million in state money already approved for the first of what's planned as a three-year project.

Legg said the annual budget for Connect Ohio is expected to be about $2.3 million, and that other private funding is being sought.

Strickland, who grew up in rural Scioto County in a home without electricity for a time, compared the effort to make broadband available to all Ohioans in this century to the move to wire all homes for electricity during the last century.

"This will change people's lives for the better," Strickland said.