The Wall Street Journal, which recently said rural America had gone from being "breadbasket to basket case," has turned its attention to the lack of fast internet service in many rural areas.
"In many rural communities, where available broadband speed and capacity barely surpass old-fashioned dial-up connections, residents sacrifice not only their online pastimes but also chances at a better living," reporters Jennifer Levitz and Valerie Bauerlein write. "In a generation, the travails of small-town America have overtaken the ills of the city, and this technology disconnect is both a cause and a symptom."
They explain: "Counties without modern internet connections can’t attract new firms, and their isolation discourages the enterprises they have: ranchers who want to buy and sell cattle in online auctions or farmers who could use the internet to monitor crops. Reliance on broadband includes any business that uses high-speed data transmission, spanning banks to insurance firms to factories."
A 2015 study in Oklahoma, Mississippi and Texas showed that "Rural counties with more households connected to broadband had higher incomes and lower unemployment than those with fewer," the Journal reports. “Having access to broadband is simply keeping up,” said Sharon Strover, a University of Texas professor who studies rural communication. “Not having it means sinking.”
The Journal maps internet service by county:
"In many rural communities, where available broadband speed and capacity barely surpass old-fashioned dial-up connections, residents sacrifice not only their online pastimes but also chances at a better living," reporters Jennifer Levitz and Valerie Bauerlein write. "In a generation, the travails of small-town America have overtaken the ills of the city, and this technology disconnect is both a cause and a symptom."
They explain: "Counties without modern internet connections can’t attract new firms, and their isolation discourages the enterprises they have: ranchers who want to buy and sell cattle in online auctions or farmers who could use the internet to monitor crops. Reliance on broadband includes any business that uses high-speed data transmission, spanning banks to insurance firms to factories."
A 2015 study in Oklahoma, Mississippi and Texas showed that "Rural counties with more households connected to broadband had higher incomes and lower unemployment than those with fewer," the Journal reports. “Having access to broadband is simply keeping up,” said Sharon Strover, a University of Texas professor who studies rural communication. “Not having it means sinking.”
The Journal maps internet service by county:
from The Rural Blog http://ift.tt/2rDXiSN The lack of fast internet in many rural areas is both a cause and a symptom of their problems - Entrepreneur Generations
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