High-speed Internet availability in rural areas is sometimes spotty, and in some doesn't even exist. What is the availability in your area? The National Broadband Map allows you to type in a place name and see all its broadband providers and their advertised speeds. There is also a tool to compare data within areas. The map defines broadband as 3 mbps download and 768 kbps upload, which is lower than the Federal Communications Commission definition (4 mbps down, 1 mbps up). To use the tool click here.
Researchers Brian Whitacre of Oklahoma State University, Roberto Gallardo of Mississippi State Universityand Sharon Strover of the University of Texas took a closer look at the National Broadband Map data for the Daily Yonderand found that 23.7 percent of rural residents lacked access to 3 mbps Internet service, while only 1.8 percent of non-rural residents did.
"More rural areas are significantly worse off in terms of the availability of wired broadband infrastructure," they write. "Thirty percent of non-core counties (no cities of 10,000 or more) have more than 40 percent of their population lacking access to wired broadband infrastructure. Only five percent of non-core counties meet this highest category of availability, compared to nearly 40 percent of metro counties." (Read more) On the National Broadband Map, the size of the red dots indicates the percentage of a county’s population that lacks wired broadband. The larger the dot, the greater the percentage of the population that lacks service.
Researchers Brian Whitacre of Oklahoma State University, Roberto Gallardo of Mississippi State Universityand Sharon Strover of the University of Texas took a closer look at the National Broadband Map data for the Daily Yonderand found that 23.7 percent of rural residents lacked access to 3 mbps Internet service, while only 1.8 percent of non-rural residents did.
"More rural areas are significantly worse off in terms of the availability of wired broadband infrastructure," they write. "Thirty percent of non-core counties (no cities of 10,000 or more) have more than 40 percent of their population lacking access to wired broadband infrastructure. Only five percent of non-core counties meet this highest category of availability, compared to nearly 40 percent of metro counties." (Read more) On the National Broadband Map, the size of the red dots indicates the percentage of a county’s population that lacks wired broadband. The larger the dot, the greater the percentage of the population that lacks service.
If you are going by the maps, they likely are wrong. Cell phone maps for rural Missouri do not show the "dead zones" and are extremely inaccurate, but regulators are using them to determine if there is competition or not. I suspect broadband is the same. I live a tenth of a mile of a highway. If I lived alongside the highway, I could have broadband. But because I'm on a gravel road, I can't get it. It makes no sense.
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