Texas Tribune, 3/8/2021
According to Luis Acuña, a policy analyst with the public policy nonprofit Texas 2036, the digital divide has three main components: building the infrastructure to support high-speed internet, people’s ability to pay for it and their ability to use it once they get it — which requires digital literacy.
“Texas is impacted by all three of those,” Acuña said. “Nearly one million Texans right now do not have infrastructure to support broadband speeds, and that population is larger than South Dakota.”
The homes lacking infrastructure are mainly in rural areas. Another 3 million households in both urban and rural areas — or roughly 8 million people — have access to broadband but aren’t subscribed, Acuña said.
2/24/2021 update, "Work from anywhere in Wisconsin? Tell that to Amanda and Joe Brooker", starts here.
Green Bay Press Gazette, 2/24/2-21
Their options for high-speed broadband service, a crucial element of making that plan work, proved to be, in a word, “horrible,” said Amanda Brooker, who owns Long Rifle Soap Co.
Their monthly data allocation with HughesNet, a satellite internet service, would last a week, leaving them with a slow connection for the rest of the month. Watch Netflix and chill? Entirely out of the question.
The Brookers' story will be familiar to many rural residents.
12/8/2020 update starts here
 |
| Wisconsin Public Service Commission |
 |
| Wisconsin Public Radio |
The WMC Foundation hired an economic research firm and developed the report with input from around 145 leaders in the private, academic and government sectors. The report outlines five challenges facing rural Wisconsin that include a limited workforce, gaps in rural broadband coverage, lack of housing, access to affordable health care and stresses on manufacturing industries. [emphasis added]
11/25/2020 update, "Dear NPR, Work from anywhere in Alabama? Not an option. Best, Retiring Guy", starts here.
Unfortunately, Alabama has already fallen behind when it comes to needed broadband infrastructure. That’s why only 21 percent of Alabamians have access to all-fiber home services. Compare that to Mississippi, where more than 40 percent of residents have access to all-fiber home services, and to Tennessee, Florida and Georgia, where approximately 35 percent of residents have access.
11/23/2020 update starts here
In both Baltimore City and Allegany County, the number of households without a broadband connection hovers around 40%, but usually not for the same reasons.
Allegany County residents are hamstrung by topography that blocks cell signals, and a population density too low to justify the investment of broadband providers.
In Baltimore, broadband infrastructure is plentiful. But urban connectivity often comes down to affordability, according to state officials and city stakeholders. Broadband capacity may also be a culprit.
11/21/2020 update, "Work from anywhere at home in Montana? Good luck with that!? starts here.
NBC Montana, 11/18/2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a light on Montana’s widening digital divide. Working from home, online school and telehealth have all become pandemic necessities, but many Montanans don’t have access to adequate broadband internet.
The digital divide refers to the gap between people with and without access to adequate internet.
NBC Montana spoke with cooperatives across the state about the divide. They all said that the digital divide doesn’t exist solely between urban and rural Montana like many people believe.
“Yes, there is a digital divide in Montana,” said Jason Williams, CEO of Blackfoot Communications in Missoula.
Original 11/14/2020 post, "Dear NPR, In North Carolina, 43% of Robeson County households have no internet connection. Makes it tough to work from home. Best, Retiring Guy, " starts here.
Photo credit: Robeson County Vision Zero
New York Times, 11/13/2020
The response is the same across broad stretches of Robeson County, N.C., a swath of small towns and rural places like Orrum dotted among soybean fields and hog farms on the South Carolina border. About 20,000 of the county’s homes, or 43 percent of all households, have no internet connection.
No comments:
Post a Comment