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Internet Service For Rural America

What Options For High Speed Internet Exist In Rural Areas?
by Richard Thomason - March 5th, 2009

For most Americans, having access to a high speed Internet connection has become as much of a necessity as having access to telephone service or electricity. However, a large portion of the United States is still denied access to this essential source of fast moving information, education and commerce. As we move forward with the economic recovery of 2009, what sources of high speed Internet while be available in rural America?

At present, the United States trails behind many other nations in how well it provides high speed Internet service to it's population. Although our metropolitan areas are covered well with DSL, cable and fiber optics, rural areas have it much worse. As of September 2008, according to the Center for Rural Affairs, "Only 38 percent of rural Americans have access to a high-speed internet connection."

That figure contributes greatly to our overall inability to connect our citizens to the high speed Internet. "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."

 

Economic Stimulus Bill

Some hope for more rural Internet service economic lies in the new economic stimulus bill recently signed by President Obama. This bill has set aside $7.2 billion to expand rural broadband access nationwide. Two federal agencies will divide this amount. $4.7 billion goes to the National Telecommunication and Information Administration, which is part of the Department of Commerce. The other $2.5 billion will go to the Rural Utilities Service program in the Department of Agriculture.

How this money will be spent remains to be seen. Although rural advocates maintain that high speed access represents a necessary part in our economic revitalization, there are many that disagree. Several prominent economists point out that there is little research that suggests improving high speed Internet access to rural areas will help to create jobs or whether rural broadband might boost the economy. It will be interesting to watch how this money is used, and which types of Internet access the two federal agencies in charge of the funds will focus on improving.

 

Satellite Internet

We placed this article in the satellite section of our website because when it comes to rural Internet service, satellite is probably going to be your only choice. This type of service is currently available in the continuous 48 United States. There are only a few choices of providers when it comes to satellite Internet service, and you can read our reviews of each to learn the specifics of their services:

Satellite Internet service does have some drawbacks that stop rural Americans from signing up. It has inherent latency issues, is very troublesome during difficult weather, and has higher costs in terms of installation, equipment, and monthly fees. Still, satellite can offer you speeds between 256 Kbps up to 5 Mbps if you can afford it.

The high initial cost and recurring monthly cost of satellite Internet is one of the main reasons rural Americans still settle for dialup access.

 

EVDO Wireless Networks

In the past couple of years, wireless coverage has become quite ubiquitous and may soon also become the solution of choice for high speed Internet connectivity. There have been some recent advances in broadband wireless technology that allows connection speeds from your cell phone or laptop to reach up to 3.1 Mbps (theoretically). Current users of this new broadband service are reporting typical download speeds between 600 Kbps to 1.4 Mbps -- and some bursts that do reach past 2 Mbps.

The new technology is called EVDO, with stands for "Evolution-Data Optimized". Devices using EVDO will have true high speed connections. Typically, the Internet connection you get with a cellular plan will range from 60 Kbps to 80 Kbps. That's only a little better than dialup (56 Kbps). As you can see, EVDO networks will allow you to access the Internet from a mobile device at speeds comparable to DSL or a satellite connection.

Of course, there are going to be issues with cost and bandwidth limits, and doing serious amounts of typing or surfing is probably not something you want to do from a small cell phone or iPhone. EVDO modems are available that allow you access on your laptop. Still, if you live in a rural area without DSL or cable, and you need to send lots of emails, check stocks, get important downloads, etc., then using a mobile device with EVDO is one way you can do those tasks at broadband speeds.

The companies that have made the most headway with the EVDO network are Verizon and Sprint. If you have cellular phone service with either of those carriers, check with them to see if you can get EVDO setup, its costs, limitations, etc. For rural Internet users, this might be a good solution for sending emails and other critical Internet tasks, but probably not for heavy use.

 

Clearwire Wireless Internet

Clearwire's a wireless ISP that is available in many rural areas. They offer broadband download speeds from 768 Kbps to 1.5 Kbps. That's equivalent to basic DSL and just as fast as you can get from satellite Internet. The service is reasonable priced and is very easy to setup and use.

The unfortunate thing about Clearwire is the service is only available in a limited number of areas. As of March 2009, sixteen states have Clearwire locations, and this includes both Hawaii and Alaska. Since satellite is not going to be available in those remote states, rural residents in Hawaii and Alaska might want to check with Clearwire first. You can expect to see other companies enter the wireless Internet market space in the near future.

 

WiMax Wireless Internet

WiMax is another option that will become available to a larger degree in rural areas in the very near future. WiMax stands for "Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access" and it promises to provide very high connection speeds, up to 6 Mbps, or even higher. Some very big companies are investing in WiMax networks, including Clearwire, Sprint, Google, and a few others.

The bad news would be that WiMax seems to be going slow on the deployment side. Since development usually starts where the money is, early WiMax efforts have been focused in business-centric areas. In areas where it is available, the price is still quite high -- almost as unaffordable for the home user as satellite Internet is. Still, WiMax offers some of the fastest wireless Internet connections available, and in the near future, it might become a more affordable option for high speed Internet in rural areas.

 

White Space

A very recent possibility for rural Internet is "white space". This is actually unused bands of radio and television signals that might be used for connecting to the Internet. At the end of 2008, the FCC voted to authorize the use of unlicensed "white space" spectrum for the development of broadband Internet.

There is a delay in getting this started, since the unlicensed spectrum will not be made available until after the full switch to digital television takes place. That seems to be occurring in the first half of 2009, so expect "white space" Internet access to become a reality after that time. Be sure to check back with our site to find out when this technology moves forwards and becomes available in rural areas.

Although none of the options for rural Internet service are ideal at this point in time, they certainly will be improving over the next couple of years. As new Internet technology reaches out into remote portions of the U.S., we'll be sure to report on them here at the High Speed Internet Access Guide.

 
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