Rural Broadband Access Key Component in Community Success
Only 38 percent of rural Americans have access to a high-speed internet connection, while in urban areas 58 percent of people have access to a high-speed connection. In fact, living in a rural area is a greater indicator than either race or income in predicting access to a high-speed connection. A vibrant future for rural America will require public policy that rectifies this situation.
High-speed internet is revolutionizing the way we do business, and with this can come great opportunity for rural America. However, as long as millions of rural Americans are without broadband service and others are served only marginally, we will continue to fall behind in adoption of a technology that could propel us forward.
High-speed internet is changing how we interact with our government. From conducting political campaigns, to issue advocacy, to holding our legislators accountable, the internet is revolutionizing politics and governing itself. If rural Americans are not able to participate at the same rate as urban Americans, we will suffer worse policy and less government accountability to issues that matter to rural people and rural places.
High-speed internet must be abundant, affordable, and open. The U.S. ranks 16th worldwide for the percent of citizens that have high-speed internet access, and we pay more when we do have access. In rural areas both access and affordability are significantly worse. Finally, any broadband network must remain open to all points of view, and private providers should be prohibited from blocking or filtering traffic in any way that curtails our right to free speech.
Access to high-speed internet in the 21st century is a public necessity similar to access to electricity in the 20th century. Much like the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, we need a Rural Broadband Act of 2009. Doing so is crucial to the future of rural America.
Contact: Brian Depew, briand@cfra.org or 402.687.2103 x1015 for more information or to comment.
High-speed internet is revolutionizing the way we do business, and with this can come great opportunity for rural America. However, as long as millions of rural Americans are without broadband service and others are served only marginally, we will continue to fall behind in adoption of a technology that could propel us forward.
High-speed internet is changing how we interact with our government. From conducting political campaigns, to issue advocacy, to holding our legislators accountable, the internet is revolutionizing politics and governing itself. If rural Americans are not able to participate at the same rate as urban Americans, we will suffer worse policy and less government accountability to issues that matter to rural people and rural places.
High-speed internet must be abundant, affordable, and open. The U.S. ranks 16th worldwide for the percent of citizens that have high-speed internet access, and we pay more when we do have access. In rural areas both access and affordability are significantly worse. Finally, any broadband network must remain open to all points of view, and private providers should be prohibited from blocking or filtering traffic in any way that curtails our right to free speech.
Access to high-speed internet in the 21st century is a public necessity similar to access to electricity in the 20th century. Much like the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, we need a Rural Broadband Act of 2009. Doing so is crucial to the future of rural America.
Contact: Brian Depew, briand@cfra.org or 402.687.2103 x1015 for more information or to comment.
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Comments
broadband from heaven
Broadband is available to anyone with a satellite dish. It's not cheap, but most major broadband providers have a satellite plan. Following in the footsteps of the REA would be for the government to subsidize satellite broadband access.
My grandparents were the first people on their road to make use of REA, which required that poles be sunk in the fields and lawns of each and every farm on the way to their farm, which caused great resentment from the neighbors. For the first few years, they had to put up with hooligans and resentful neighbors cutting the wires, felling trees on them, and setting the poles on fire. They lived along the Little Salt River just a short distance north and east of Shepherd, Michigan.
Satellite
Satellite is often an option in rural areas, but not always. As you note it is also often prohibitively expensive. Download speeds on satellite are adequate, but upload speeds are usually less-than adequate. One emerging hope for rural broadband is actually the spectrum that analogue television now uses. With the switch to digital television that spectrum will become available and might be useful for broadband deployment.
Right On
So...
Broadband Policy
Just this week we signed onto a letter supporting the release of television white space (created by the transfer to digital television) for public broadband development.
We have not worked on federal broadband policy to date, but are generally supportive of efforts to invest government resources in overcoming the rural broadband gap as long as they are done in ways that are not simply corporate give-aways.
This is an issue we are likely to work on more in the future at both the state and federal level, and we recently began conversations to figure out what policies to promote in both instances.
Government push really needed
Very interesting article!
Thanks for sharing, you've
Thanks for sharing, you've written a very interesting article. It seems like if those living in rural America have access to phone service, shouldn't they have be able to receive internet through the phone company. It just seems like another option besides the satellite option. Anyway, great post.
All the best.
Rural Internet
I would love to be able to get Cable Internet or DSL. I have tried satellite, not only is it more expensive, but there is also a cap on the amount of bandwidth that you can use in a 7 day period. You can only use 1GB - that's barely enough to check email and do some normal web surfing, forget downloading anything! The reason having phone access is no guarentee of Internet access has to do with the distance a home is located from a main telephone substation. Most rural homes are to far from substations (1500 ft.) to get DSL.
Relying soley on broadband connectivity
I highly recommend and condone the application and usage of broadband in all digital work solutions. As a fulltime photographer, I would now be lost without it. Even the low end of the broadband hi speed connection allows for sending large files and is a great asset to any cable company. Keep it flowing!
Rural Broadband Is A Real Necessity
One of the biggest drawbacks to this countries broadband access is the rural areas. How many kids living in rural areas that are stuck with dial-up service are falling behind in school because they don't have the ability to to access much of the internet that their classmates can.
If we truly want to improved the countries education system, we have to work towards getting broadband into the rural parts of the country. And for those who are pushing satellite as the answer, try using satellite internet during a rainstorm. Forget it. And it's even worse on dark cloudy winter days.
Satellite internet is a joke.
Broadband is something we need
I think so the Rural
I think so the Rural
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