Internet access difficulties in rural areas
A digital divide exists between Americans that the Federal Communications Commission is trying to fix. Those who live in or near a city have greater access to broadband internet and speedy fiber-optic internet service, while many rural communities struggle to find internet service providers in their area. Here’s a closer look at the issues many rural residents face.
Limited service availability
Home internet service availability is limited in rural areas because very few internet service providers are established in these sparsely populated communities. It’s very expensive for an ISP to expand its services throughout a large rural area. And since there aren’t many potential customers in one place, these companies don’t want to invest where profit expectations are low.
If you’re presently struggling with limited service availability in your home, there is hope, though. The FCC has recently proposed a Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to provide money to ISPs willing to expand their services to rural homes. The goal is to make internet access available to at least 4 million rural homes and small businesses that currently lack modern broadband service.
Depending on where you live and your proximity to cellphone towers, you might be able to access one of the following rural internet options typically on the market:
- Fixed wireless internet
- Mobile wireless internet
- DSL internet
- Satellite internet
- Dial-up internet
Enter your home address into Frontier.com service availability check to see what internet plans, pricing, and exclusive offers are available in your area.
Slow connection speeds
Since few ISPs invest in rural internet access, rural homes are left dealing with limited options of outdated internet services. Download speeds and upload speeds are slower because of the older methods of accessing the internet people must use. Plus, the more people trying to use the internet in and near your home, the slower the connection becomes as you all try to share the limited bandwidth.
The FCC classifies internet service speeds into three categories by megabits per second.
- Basic: 3 to 8 Mbps
- Medium: 12 to 25 Mbps
- Advanced: >25 Mbps
Good internet speed is usually at least 25 Mbps, while a fast connection is 100 Mbps or more. Rural residents often struggle with speeds at the basic service level or below. Slow speed and high latency levels make it impossible to stream high-definition videos or have multiple devices connected to the internet at the same time. Many people struggle to use the internet for work and school in rural areas.
0–10 Mbps
- Good for:
- Checking email
- Browsing websites
- Browsing social media
10–50 Mbps
- Good for:
- Connecting multiple devices
- Streaming videos
- Online gaming for one player
50+ Mbps
- Good for:
- Streaming videos in HD
- Online gaming for multiple users
- Video chatting with friends
Unreliable internet connections
Rural internet connections are more susceptible to reliability issues, due to problems like poorly maintained infrastructure and bad weather. Storms and winds can interfere with phone lines and satellite dishes, causing internet connections to slow down, work intermittently, or completely shut down.
Limited service technicians pose another problem in rural communities. Since there are fewer techs in a rural service area or because techs need to travel greater distances, a connectivity issue can take longer to address and resolve.