Adoption of broadband in rural Iowa varies widely

We've written a lot about the federal investment in rural broadband, but that investment doesn't mean everyone in rural America is adopting high-speed Internet. "If 'wireless router' is about as far as you want to go with the computer terminology, don't worry," Kyle Munson of the Des Moines Register writes. "I encounter lots of Iowans in various stages of online transition -- or lack thereof -- as I travel the state." Nonprofit organization Connect Iowa and the Iowa Utilities Board report 34 percent of Iowa households remain without a high-speed or broadband Internet connection -- the vast majority by choice.

In rural Turo, Iowa, local telecommunications company Interstate Communications recently laid new fiber optic cables for broadband Internet access with the help of a $7 million, 20-year loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Local chiropractor Ann Borseth was quick to adopt high-speed Internet, but just across the street, Jerry and Charlotte Clarke said no thanks, opting to "to remain offline and let the digital revolution pass them by," Munson writes. Jerry Clarke explained, "The knowledge doesn't automatically come to you."

Librarian Betty Green told Munson as many as seven people a day access each of the local library's five computers to access the Internet every day. "If the library serves as a backup plan for local residents on the fringes of online access, the opposite end of the spectrum is just several miles away at Appcore Technology," a cloud computing company, Munson writes. The vast differences in broadband adoption is "rural Iowa for you -- a different angle on the digital revolution from mile to mile," Munson adds. Even Clarke is considering hooking up to the new fiber optic cables. "I'm going to consider hooking up to it," he said. "It's getting about compulsory." (Read more)