Quick hits: Using a pay phone; hated Halloween candy; oral health is part of overall health; dude ranches for all

Finding and using a pay phone is a modern curiosity.
(Photo by Darin Epperly, Flatwater Free Press)

Smartphones may be the way of today, but pay phones still exist, and a call can cost a mere quarter. "Lane Handke called his wife to tell her he was bringing home the shelves they needed to finish their cabinet. The call cost him 25 cents," reports of Kevin Warneke of Flatwater Free Press. "Then, he phoned a friend just to say hello. . . . Handke made his calls from a pay telephone standing outside the Pierce Telephone Co. building. He felt drawn to this pay phone by curiosity. Pulled toward it by nostalgia." He told Warneke, “I hadn’t used a pay phone in decades. People were looking and wondering what I was doing. I thought it was kind of cool.”

While wind, solar, nuclear and fossil fuels are all part of the U.S. energy grid, geothermal power may be the next source to enter the mix. "The promise of new engineering techniques for geothermal energy – heat from the Earth itself – has attracted rising levels of investment to this reliable, low-emission power source that can provide continuous electricity almost anywhere on the planet," writes geophysicist Moones Alamooti for The Conversation. "That includes ways to harness geothermal energy from idle or abandoned oil and gas wells. . . . In the first quarter of 2025, North American geothermal installations attracted $1.7 billion in public funding – compared with $2 billion for all of 2024."

Do you know which Halloween candies are the most
disliked? (Adobe Stock photo)

As Halloween gets closer, adults and kids out shopping are met with store shelves packed with chewy eyeballs, glow-in-the-dark worms, bat-shaped candy bars, corn that's not real corn, and festive fall packaging. But some people find the  sweet, sticky world of Oct. 31 candy disgusting -- so much so, there's a list of the 10 most despised Halloween candies. Guesses go here.

Oral health and overall health are closely linked, and some "practitioners think dentistry should no longer be siloed," reports Lola Butcher for Knowable magazine. "Dentistry and medicine have operated as parallel fields: Dentists take care of the mouth, physicians the rest of the body. That is starting to change. . . . Dental hygienists have started working in medical clinics; physicians and dentists have started a professional association to promote working together; and a new kind of clinic — with dentists and doctors under one roof — is emerging. . . . The list of connections between oral health and systemic health — conditions that affect the entire body — is remarkable."

Triangle X Ranch, inside Grand Teton National Park, has been in the Turner family for nearly a century. 
(Triangle X Ranch photo via The New York Times)

Saddle up or relax at one of these six dude ranches. "All-inclusive guest ranches let you connect with nature, as well as your inner cowpoke, on the trail, around the campfire and under the starry skies," reports Ruffin Prevost for The New York Times. Whether honing horse skills, seeking majestic views, or simply wanting to leave technology and stress behind by heading out to the American West, Prevost's list offers suggestions and resources for a rural getaway.

Here a seed, there a seed, everywhere a company selling or consolidating to sell seeds. "Keeping track of [seed] brands — especially corn and soybeans — can be daunting," reports of Chris Torres of Farm Progress. "Knowing who owns what can provide crucial insights into what companies are behind the brands you buy, how they source and develop genetics, and what sorts of technology may be available to you." A compact seed chart and a listing of university variety seed trials are found here.

Each piano was tuned slightly differently to produce 11,000 Strings.
(Photo by Stephanie Berg via the Smithsonian)

When 100 pianos at the Hailun piano factory in China were all played together to test their performance before being shipped out, conductor Peter Paul Kainrath was there to experience the "massive sound," reports Ella Feldman for Smithsonian magazine. "The cacophonic scene left Kainrath so inspired that he called Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas to discuss its potential. . . .The next morning, Haas told Kainrath that if he brought him 50 pianos, he would compose a piece. The resulting composition is Haas’ 11,000 Strings."

U.S. Supreme Court looks poised to allow $8 billion for rural and low-income broadband and phone services

The Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.
(Adobe Stock photo)

The U.S. Supreme Court seems likely to approve continued funding for an $8 billion program for broadband and phone service maintenance and expansion in rural and poor parts of the U.S., reports Mark Sherman of The Associated Press. In what is considered a "new test of federal regulatory power," justices are "reviewing an appellate ruling that struck down as unconstitutional the Universal Service Fund, the tax that has been added to phone bills for nearly 30 years."

John Fritze of CNN reports, "A conservative 'consumer awareness group' challenged [USF] as an unconstitutional 'delegation' of the power of Congress to levy taxes. What’s worse, the group argues, a private entity calculates the amount of money that must be contributed. . . . .The Supreme Court has not invoked the non-delegation doctrine – or the idea that Congress cannot delegate its authority – since the 1930s. It has, for decades, permitted delegations under certain conditions."

The court seem sympathetic to communities that receive USF dollars. Sherman reports, "Liberal and conservative justices alike said they were concerned about the potentially devastating consequences of eliminating the fund that has benefited tens of millions of Americans."

Should the conservative-led court uphold USF funding, the ruling will be a departure from its ongoing efforts to "rein in" federal agencies, Sherman writes. "The Trump administration, which has moved aggressively to curtail administrative agencies in other areas, is defending the FCC program."

Consumer Research calls USF "a 'nightmare scenario' in which Congress has set no limits on how much the FCC can raise to fund the program," Sherman reports. “'Predictably, the USF tax rate has skyrocketed. It was under 4% in 1998 but now approaches 37%,' lawyers for the group wrote."

Congress established the Universal Service Fund in 1996. Fritze explains, "Telecommunications companies contribute billions to that fund – a cost that is passed on to consumers – to pay for programs like E-Rate, which lowers the cost of high-speed internet for libraries and schools."

The court's decision is expected in June.

Landline use might be fading, but many rural residents still rely on it during power outages and emergencies

Landlines don't go down during power
outages. (Photo by A. Spratt, Unsplash)

When emergencies strike in remote areas, the unreliability of cell phone and broadband services can become a stark reality, which is why many rural residents want to keep their landlines. "The number of landline users has plummeted, and providers are looking at transitioning customers to cellphones or home telephone service over broadband connections," reports Heather Kelly for The Washington Post. "But for millions of people, newer alternatives are either unavailable, too expensive, or are unreliable when it matters most: in an emergency."

Because landline phones use copper lines to transfer electricity, "as long as a phone is corded or charged, it will work during a power outage," Kelly explains. "Landlines are unaffected by power outages, making them a necessary backstop in rural areas. Many of those same areas have inadequate cellular or internet coverage."

Enumclaw in King County, Wash., sits in
the shadowof Mt. Rainier. (Wikipedia map)

About a quarter of Americans still have a landline, but far fewer rely on it for daily use. "The largest group of people holding onto their landlines are 65 and older," Kelly reports. "Susan Reiter has had a landline in her Enumclaw, Wash., home since 1978. The power goes out multiple times a year, says Reiter, usually caused by fierce wind and other weather events. But the landline always works, she says, making it her best option if there's an emergency and she needs to call 911."

AT&T is one company looking to cut costs by cutting landline service. It asked the California Public Utilities Commission to "end its obligation to provide landline service in parts of the state," Kelly adds. "Hundreds of California residents called into CPUC public meetings. . . .The vast majority said maintaining landline service was a safety issue, citing power outages, wildfires and floods as times when their landlines are the only way to reach 911 or get information on evacuations."

As calling options evolve, replacing landlines as an emergency stopgap seems possible; however, getting people to trust newer technology may be tricky. "Apple added a satellite-connected emergency response service to the iPhone 14 in 2022," Kelly reports. "For people with a landline they've had for decades, the promise of new technology doesn't compete with the security of something that has worked for so long."

Quick hits: Chris Stapleton; the first hydrogen-powered ferry; Stephen King's library; was Paul Bunyan a real man?

Chris Stapleton is one of the most famous men in country
music and beyond. (Photo by Stacy Kranitz, GQ)

The holidays mean getting together with relatives, but those gatherings can lead to heated discussions. As an antidote to arguing with Uncle Alan over religion, there is one topic everyone might be able to enjoy: Chris Stapleton and all his general awesomeness. Brett Martin of Gentlemen's Quarterly went road-tripping with the musical icon and asks, "Is Chris Stapleton the One Thing That America Can Agree On?"

Farm accidents happen, from tractor mishaps to pumpkin harvesting cuts. Each year, nonfatal injuries occur to about 33% of the farming population in the United States. One way to prevent accidents from becoming fatal is to be trained on how to slow blood loss until help can arrive. "Stop the Bleed is a nationally recognized, 90-minute certification program providing participants with hands-on opportunities to recognize life-threatening bleeding and intervene effectively by properly using a tourniquet in the event of blood loss caused by an injury," reports Jenny Schlect of AgWeek. Many 4-H extensions and rural nursing programs offer the training.

The "Sea Change" hydrogen ferry
(Switch Maritime photo via Canary Media)

While some of America is going all-in on electric, hydrogen power is also a renewable energy option. "America's first hydrogen-fueled ferry is set to launch in San Francisco early next year after more than five years in development," reports Maria Gallucci of Canary Media. "As the milestone nears, the vessel's owner says it's already looking to deploy more zero-emissions ferries nationwide — particularly in places where aging, polluting diesel boats still ply rivers, sounds and coastlines.

Remember when your phone stayed in your house or workplace? Many younger Americans don't remember when phones were tied to a landline. "My tween will never know the sound of me calling her name from another room after the phone rings. She'll never sit on our kitchen floor, refrigerator humming in the background, twisting a cord around her finger while talking to her best friend," writes Julia Cho for The Atlantic. "'We don't even have a landline anymore,' people began to say proudly as the new millennium progressed. But this came with a quieter, secondary loss — the loss of the shared social space of the family landline."

From the redwood forests to Maine islands, 
Paul Bunyan stories live on. (NG photo)

Famed lumberjack Paul Bunyan and his big blue ox Babe are the stuff of some superbly American tall tales. But as history tells it, those stories "were spun from ever more ridiculous yarns," reports Josh Keefe of National Geographic. "But there's much more to his story. . . . In Bangor, Maine, a framed birth certificate of Paul Bunyan hangs in the city clerk's office. . . . Despite Paul Bunyan's 'birth certificate' and the many children's books that place his birthplace in Maine, evidence suggests that Bunyan was invented sometime after logging operations moved west and began clearing almost all of the old-growth forests in places like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, says Michael Edmonds, a historian and author of Out of the Northwoods: The Many Lives of Paul Bunyan."

Well, maybe Paul Bunyan never lived in Bangor, Maine, but Stephen King and his wife Tabitha did. King shared a tour of their Bangor home, now their library, with John Williams of The Washington Post. "Fear not, the king of chills serves as a friendly guide to his library," Williams reports. King told him: "The house has been here since 1845; we've been here since 1976. . . . But we don't really live here anymore, and it's kind of a time capsule."

911 began when 'every household had a landline;' times have changed, but many emergency call centers haven't

911 service began in some places in 1968.
(Photo by Marissa Lewis, Unsplash)

Think everyone has switched to cellular? Think again. "Some 911 centers are still struggling to modernize their communications infrastructure—the result of funding scarcity and hesitation over the high stakes of making changes," reports Isabelle Bousquette of The Wall Street Journal. "But the continued use of legacy systems, installed when pay phones dotted city corners and every household had a landline, has led to a host of challenges for call-center operators, including misrouted calls, potentially increasing response times. U.S. regulators have estimated that as many as 10,000 lives could be saved every year by reducing 911 response times by just one minute."

The U.S. has roughly 5,700 primary and secondary public-safety answering points that respond to 911 calls, and most are "locally funded and operated, and have each taken their own path toward modernization. Overall progress has been slow," Bousquette writes. Patrick Lustig, an Oregon Department of Emergency Management member, told her: "We're using 35-year-old technology today to deliver 911 calls. Everything else has changed except the 911 system."

In 2004, the National Emergency Number Association, a nonprofit group, "came up with the vision for a 'Next Generation 911' center, which could fully take advantage of modern capabilities," Bousquette reports. NENA's goal is to move away from the old systems that "only supports voice communication to an internet-based network, capable of receiving various types of digital data, including more accurate caller location information. . . .By the end of 2022, deployments of Next Generation 911 technology covered about 56.2% of the U.S. population, according to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. . . . For the remaining 43.8% of the population, it could be several more years. . . . Meanwhile, theyare left to contend with the limitations of their decades-old systems."

The two systems do not work well together because landlines are tied to unique geographic addresses, and cell-phone locations link to towers, resulting in emergency callers waiting to be transferred. "NENA estimates 27 million calls on legacy systems are misrouted annually, wasting precious time as the operator then has to transfer the caller to the appropriate center. . . . according to Lynne Houserman, a vice president at Motorola Solutions, a provider of services to 911 centers," Bousquette explains. "The call is then routed to a 911 center based on a decades-old database linking cell sites with call center locations. . . . But cell site boundaries are imprecise and sometimes fall within multiple 911 centers jurisdictions—meaning calls aren’t always routed to the nearest one, she said."

Inaccurate call routing isn't the only limitation. "About 40% to 45% of the country’s 911 centers still can’t accept texts, according to NENA, which described texting as critical in sensitive situations, including domestic violence incidents, as well as for the hearing-impaired," Bousquette reports. "With a Next Generation 911 network, texting is automatically enabled, Houserman said, although there are also some interim ways to make it work without the full network."

Because 911 is not a national service, funding remains the main obstacle to change. Aleisha Rucker-Wright, deputy executive director of the Georgia Emergency Communications Authority, "said the state’s ECA has been working to educate policymakers and stakeholders on Next Generation 911. She tells them things like: 'If you call and you order delivery, or you call for an Uber, they know exactly where to come to find you. … Our current 911 system, unfortunately, is not able to find you.'"

Loss of 411 kills another way to connect, but emphasizes the need for it; maybe we should start calling up people

(Photo by Rebecca Nelson, Getty Images)

Don't recall someone's phone number? Call 411, and get it. Not anymore. "AT&T announced late last year that 411, the operator and directory assistance service, would end around January 1, 2023," reports Keith Roysdone of The Daily Yonder. "It would no longer be possible to call an operator to place a call and no longer possible to reach directory assistance for information about names and numbers. . . . CNN reported that in 2019, about 71 million calls to 411 were placed each year."

That's 71 million phone numbers people couldn't remember, and possibly 71 connections people didn't make. But as Roysdone points out, "The need to know is timeless; within a single lifetime, some rural communities have gone from switchboards to fiber-optic internet." Roysdone notes that rural Americans needs to "keep up" because now, more than ever rural communities need to strive for the connections that were once made through party lines.

Dennis Hall, a telephone switchboard operator in California wine country in the 1970s, told Roysdone, "Being a rural area, we had a lot of farmers.” Hall added that a single line might connect three farms. “That was called a 'farmer’s line.' Someone would dial the operator and tell them they wanted Farmer Jones. All three lines could ring, but the operator would make the (ring) different. Farmer Jones would be two shorts and a long, but inevitably all three would pick it up."

Roysdone asked Hall, "How has the telephone experience changed for rural customers?" Hall responded, "The sense of community is severely diminished. There’s not really any sense of community.”
 
The lack of community can be hard to replace. "In the past year, I’ve been on a mission to pester as many people in my life as possible. The first victim was my editor, whom I abruptly asked one morning to stop messaging me about story ideas. Instead, I said, let’s talk the ideas out over the phone," reports Amanda Mull of The Atlantic. "I soon did the same thing to a friend who’d texted to discuss a job offer he’d just received. A few weeks later, when another friend texted me for New York City apartment-hunting tips, I asked her my new favorite question in return: Do you want to give me a call?"

Ah-ha. Now, here we go. "The phone call has lost its primacy in American communication. By 2014, texting had become more common for Americans under 50," Mull explains. "People currently in their 20s and 30s, in particular, have developed a reputation for being allergic to phone calls. . . . True to this generational stereotype, I sent my own mother to voicemail and texted her to ask what she wanted. . . . I ask forgiveness from all those whose voicemails I have not listened to. To fully repent, I must make clear what I now know to be the truth: Phone calls are good, actually."

Whatever would make you think that? "I wanted to hear my editor’s reactions to my story ideas and work them out in real time, not watch a 'Paul is typing …' graphic linger ominously for 30 seconds before I knew the verdict," Mull writes. "With friends, too, I wanted to rekindle the energy of live conversation. I wanted to crack a joke and hear someone laugh."

Mull points out: "Chatting on the phone provides the bliss of unreviewable, unforwardable, unsearchable speech. If you misunderstand something, there’s no day-long email chain correcting your error. . . Snapchat sent photos between users that disappeared 10 seconds after being viewed; talking to someone on the phone has provided the same freedom in verbal form since the days of Alexander Graham Bell." 

Roysdone writes: "Telephone users are happy to not share 'farmer lines' or 'party lines,' Hall agreed. And he noted that it’s possible to mourn the loss of the one-time telephone community and appreciate the improvements." 

Maybe it's possible to have the best of both worlds. Pick up the phone and see.

New smartphones with satellite connections could answer need for rural connectivity, but cost will be a major factor

Photo from Firmbee.com on Unsplash

The problem of restrictive broadband or even no cellular service in rural communities is not new. The lack of connectivity continues to make it harder for rural populations to access the information and community that metropolitan areas readily use. "According to a new report from CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange, satellite smartphones could have a profound impact on residents of rural communities as the technology advances and more robust service offerings become available," reports Cobank, a lending cooperative owned by the agribusinesses, rural public utilities and farm credit associations it serves.

Cellular companies have limited rural development due to low returns on investment. CoBank says, "Smartphones with satellite connectivity could eventually prove vital for rural communities, delivering voice, data and broadband to Americans living in underserved markets. . . . . The ability to make calls and send messages in remote areas where no cellular service exists would provide some rural residents with options and flexibility that were previously unimaginable. However, cost will be a key determinant of consumer adoption and the finer details on pricing remain unclear."

Historically, satellite phones have been used for military or high-seas communications. With Apple's introduction of the iPhone 14, which includes a satellite connection for use in emergencies, the options for use of satellite phones is making a dramatic shift. "Apple is providing the service free of charge for the first two years, and it remains to be seen what they will charge after that. However, it is reasonable to assume that Apple will keep the price low and use the service to increase iPhones sales, given its first mover advantage. T-Mobile said satellite services will be free on its most popular plans, but it’s unclear what those plans will cost when T-Mobile rolls out the service in 2024," Cobank reports.

Jeff Johnston, lead communications economist for CoBank, said, “Initially, the service options available through satellite phone connectivity will be limited to basic text and SOS messaging. But as new satellites are launched over the next several years, voice calling and more advanced data applications should become available. And smartphones equipped with satellite technology will work anywhere in the U.S., regardless of cellular coverage.”

Flood roundup: Supply-chain shortages hamper recovery; editorial blasts AT&T; lack of flood-proof building sites noted

It's been almost a month since the record flooding in Eastern Kentucky and surrounding areas, and recovery has been spotty and will take years. Here are some recent items of interest:

Supply-chain struggles with building materials that have plagued the nation since the beginning of the pandemic are making it harder—and more expensive—for Eastern Kentuckians to rebuild after the flood, Chad Hedrick of Hazard's WYMT-TV reports. Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday that the rebuilding would be the most difficult ever in the U.S.

An editorial in The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg rips into AT&T for not only failing to get most residents' phone service back up and running in Letcher County, but for the company's out-of-touch customer service. The paper's staff called AT&T in an attempt to get answers, and was told that flood victims who needed their service restored could contact the company online, call on their cell phones, or visit the nearest retail store. However, the editorial notes, many flood victims live where cell reception is impossible, meaning internet is also a no-go. And since many lost their vehicles in the flood, it's difficult to get to the nearest AT&T retail store 30 or more miles away. Read more here.

So many people were in harm's way during the floods because they live in flood-prone bottomlands. Landholding corporations and government agencies mostly own the higher ground, and they're not leasing it for commercial or residential development. In the case of reclaimed strip mines, their reclamation bonds may not have been released. Companies should be fairly compensated but obliged to allow some development to protect locals from future floods, writes Joe Childers in an op-ed for the Lexington Herald-Leader. Childers was Kentucky coordinator for the 1981 Appalachian Land Ownership Study.

Quick hits: 3G phones will die next year; legal battles have little impact on N.C. hog farms; Wisconsin wolf hunt halted

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Phones on 3G networks will stop working next year, which will disproportionately affect rural Americans. The Washington Post has the rundown of what will happen, when it will happen, and what consumers need to know. Read more here.

Years of legal battles over hog-farm pollution in North Carolina has changed little for nearby residents. Read more here.

A Wisconsin judge issued a temporary injunction to block the state's fall wolf-hunting season, agreeing with advocacy groups that holding the hunt would be unconstitutional. A judge presiding over a similar lawsuit at the federal level declined to issue an injunction because the first one is already in place. So the details of the hunt, meant to start tomorrow, are still up in the air. The state held a wolf-hunting season in January with a limit of 119 kills, but hunters killed 218 in just four days. 

The National Park Service could soon have its first Native American director, if Charles "Chuck" F. Sams III is confirmed. Read more here.

The Biden administration has promoted Fish & Wildlife Service principal deputy director Martha Williams to head the agency. Read more here.

Vultures descended on a North Carolina town a year ago. They won't leave. Read more here.

The South Dakota Department of Education has resumed its review of social-studies curriculum standards after protests that a local Native American tribe's history was deleted. The department will review the new standards over three years, providing more chances for the public to weigh in, and will publish lesson plans on the Oceti Sakowin tribe for teachers who want to use them. Read more here.

Rural telecoms, others ask FCC to delay T-Mobile's killing of Boost Mobile, a 3G service many rural residents use

Seven public interest groups, including the Rural Wireless Association, have asked acting Federal Communications Commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel to delay T-Mobile from shuttering an older wireless network many rural customers depend on, Kelly Hill reports for RCR Wireless News.

The network is Boost Mobile. It was once a Sprint service, but was sold to Dish Network so T-Mobile and Sprint could begin merging last year without running afoul of anti-trust laws. As part of the merger, T-Mobile agreed to help set up Dish as an independent wireless carrier, but now T-Mobile wants to shut down the 3G network that many Boost/Dish customers rely on by early next year, Allison Johnson reports for The Verge. In essence, T-Mobile was forced to create a future competitor, and is now kneecapping that competitor. 

That will likely hurt many low-income rural residents. More than half of Boost's 9.4 million customers use its very low-cost prepaid service, which allows them access to older, slower 3G wireless. Boost customers using the 3G service "are likely doing so not because they prefer it, but because they can’t afford a new phone. In less than a year, they’ll be forced to choose between making that purchase or losing their current cell service altogether," Hill reports. "Bearing disproportionate effects of the pandemic and related economic fallout, it’s likely not a great time for these customers to be shopping for a new phone. Dish also points out that the global chip shortage makes it an especially bad time to try to secure a large number of new devices for customers."

Senate OKs $1 billion for rural telecom carriers to replace Huawei gear, but that may not cover full cost of replacement

On Thursday the Senate approved $1 billion to help rural telecommunications carriers replace equipment made by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE Corp. The House passed a similar bill in December, and President Trump is expected to sign it.

Huawei equipment makes up less than 1 percent of equipment used by U.S. telecom providers, but it's much more popular among rural telecoms because it's cheaper. "If signed, the bill will provide funds for about 40 rural carriers that use Huawei gear, which the U.S. says could be used by Beijing to spy on the communications that flow through its networks," Katy Ferek reports for The Wall Street Journal. "Huawei, the world’s largest maker of telecom equipment and the No. 2 smartphone vendor, has disputed those assertions."

As part of the trade war with China, in May 2019 the Federal Communications Commission banned U.S. telecoms from buying or using equipment from "foreign adversaries," effective 90 days from then. That included Huawei, ZTE and similar Chinese companies, Ferek reports. The move left rural telecoms scrambling to figure out their next move. In July, Trump promised to ease up on the Huawei ban as part of trade negotiations with China, and in August extended the deadline for ditching Huawei tech to mid-November. Then in November, the administration granted exceptions to some rural carriers.

Approving funding could help Trump win rural voters in an election year, Ferek writes. However, $1 billion won't likely cover the full cost rural telecoms will pay to replace the equipment, George Paul reports for Business Insider; he notes that FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks estimated in November that the real cost could be as much as $2 billion

In the meantime, barring American consumers and companies from doing business with Huawei hasn't hurt the tech giant's fortunes. In addition to the telecoms-equipment ban, the Commerce Department mostly forbade American companies from selling Huawei the computer chips it needs for a certain piece of wireless equipment, but Huawei simply expanded its own chip-manufacturing capability and has been selling the equipment without U.S. chips, Ian King reports for Bloomberg. Tim Danks, the U.S.-based Huawei executive responsible for partner relations, told King that Huawei wants to return to using American components, but that the longer the company goes without access to U.S. suppliers, the less likely it is to return to using American chips.

Nine senators, including two Republicans, write open letter to USDA, demanding more funding for rural broadband

A bipartisan group of nine senators wrote an open letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Wednesday, urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make more communities eligible to receive funding from ReConnect, its $500 million rural broadband buildout program.

The senators, led by Ron Wyden, D-Ore., accused the USDA of arbitrarily limiting which rural areas are eligible to receive funds. "As it stands, the USDA program says certain rural areas cannot qualify for the fund if they previously received money from the Federal Communications Commission for satellite service," Emily Birnbaum reports for The Hill. "But the senators say satellite service is not enough to fix the issue of the 'digital divide,' and the USDA's funds could have life-saving impacts for areas that do not have good Internet access."

Other signatories were Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc.; John Barrasso, R-Wyoming; Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming; Doug Jones, D-Ala.; Angus King, I-Maine; Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Patty Murray, D-Wash.; and Tom Udall, D-N.M.

The program will provide up to $200 million in grants, $200 million in low-interest loans, and up to $200 million for loan/grant combinations. A second round of ReConnect funding began accepting applications on Jan. 31; applications must be submitted by March 16.

Judge OKs merger of Sprint, T-Mobile; big farm lender's report says rural wireless operators could be hurt

Today a federal judge ruled in favor of a proposed $26 billion merger of Sprint and T-Mobile that would also introduce Dish Network as a wireless provider. However, the deal can't proceed until the California Public Utilities Commission approves it, Lauren Feiner reports for CNBC.

"Attorneys general from New York, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia and D.C. originally brought the lawsuit to block the deal following approval from the Justice Department [and the] Federal Communications Commission," Feiner reports. "The states had argued that combining the No. 3 and No. 4 U.S. carriers would limit competition and result in higher prices for consumers. The companies had argued their merger would help them compete against top players AT&T and Verizon and advance efforts to build a nationwide 5G network."

Rural and farm lender CoBank recently provided an in-depth picture of how the merger could affect rural America and made some projections. Economist Jeff Johnston wrote that it's difficult to predict how the deal will play out, but T-Mobile's lack of roaming agreements with rural operators concerns him. "According to the Rural Wireless Association, Sprint has been an important roaming partner for many rural operators as they fill Sprint’s coverage gaps," Johnston reports. The roaming deals are sometimes a significant source of revenue for rural wireless providers, but T-Mobile has not pursued such rural coverage deals as aggressively as Sprint. 

If T-Mobile's current management leads the new T-Mobile, they might abandon Sprint's roaming strategy, and rural wireless operators could take a "significant revenue hit," Johnston writes. If T-Mobile takes seriously its promises to improve rural coverage, rural residents could benefit, he writes.

Giant telecoms fighting requirements to provide higher broadband speeds under new rural subsidy program

Lobbyists for huge telecommunications companies such as AT&T, Verizon, and Windstream are fighting a proposed rule that would require telecoms to provide higher internet speeds in order to qualify for a rural broadband subsidy, Jon Brodkin reports for Ars Technica.

The Federal Communications Commission announced in December that it would scrap the 4G LTE rural subsidy plan and instead launch a $9 billion fund to bring 5G to rural areas. The 5G plan, called the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, plans to offer three tiers: a baseline tier with 25 megabytes per second download speed and 3 Mbps upload, an "above-baseline" tier with 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up, and a "gigabit performance" tier with 1Gbps down and 50 Mbps up, Brodkin reports.

Though most ISPs seem fine with the requirements for the bottom and top tiers, "it's the above-baseline tier of 100Mbps/20Mbps that providers object to," Brodkin reports. "They either want the FCC to lower that tier's upload speeds or create an additional tier that would be faster than baseline but slower than above-baseline. Companies pushing lower standards are trying to ensure that ISPs offering much slower speeds can get a large slice of that federal funding without making significant network upgrades."

According to a Dec. 23 comment filed with the FCC, the lobbying group USTelecom and other major telecoms proposed that the above-baseline tier's upload target should be 10 Mbps instead of 20 Mbps. They said that 20 Mbps upload speeds wouldn't benefit rural consumers much, and would make a negligible difference in HD streaming, video conferencing and gaming. They also said that lowering the target speed would incentivize telecoms to build out additional broadband and would save the rural subsidy fund money. However, Brodkin notes that the argument doesn't hold water, since advertised broadband speeds are "basically the best-case scenario" and consumers often see much slower speeds.

The Dec. 23 filing is the latest in a flurry of such filings. In October, AT&T filed a request for a slower tier of 50/6 Mbps up, and essentially advised "that the FCC should direct a larger share of the rural funding toward ISPs offering slower speeds," Brodkin reports. On Dec. 13, AT&T and other ISPs requested a new tier with 50/5 Mbps speeds and urged the FCC to prioritize lower-speed tiers. Such speeds would be a step back from what the 4G LTE program usually funds; more than half of the funds awarded are for 100/20 Mbps projects.

Notably, two groups representing smaller internet service providers (the Rural Broadband Association and ACA Connects) urged the FCC to reject proposals to lower speeds in a filing on Dec. 6, Brodkin reports.

The differing proposals reflect a schism in rural broadband providers: rural telephone and electric cooperatives are responsible for building out almost three-quarters of the fast fiber-optic broadband in the rural U.S., but the much slower Digital Subscriber Line broadband service, which transfers internet signals via existing telephone lines, remains the most common type of rural internet service. One big reason: big telecoms companies lobbied for and won major federal contracts to build rural broadband, then saved money by using the slower DSL technology instead of laying fiber-optic cable.

FCC to scrap 4G LTE rural program, create $9 billion subsidy to bring fifth-generation wireless to rural areas

"The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday that it plans to ditch a $4.5 billion subsidy program for 4G LTE in rural areas and instead launch a $9 billion fund to bring 5G wireless to hard-to-reach parts of the country," Marguerite Reardon reports for Cnet. "FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the new fund will help carriers pay for 5G deployments in sparsely populated, hard-to-reach areas of the US, or areas in the states with rugged terrain."

One reason the 4G LTE plan, called the Mobility Fund II program, was scrapped: a recently released FCC investigation found that the self-reported carrier data, meant to help the agency figure out where to send funding, was inaccurate.

Rural areas would benefit greatly from improved wireless speed. "One of the key applications for 5G in rural parts of the country is to provide connectivity for precision agriculture or technologies that improve the accuracy and control involved in growing crops and raising livestock," Reardon reports. "The FCC said it'll set aside at least $1 billion from the fund specifically for 5G deployments focused on precision agriculture needs."

Rural 5G networks could help ameliorate some of the pain from lack of broadband access. Despite billions in private and public investment for decades, about 39 percent of rural Americans lack access to high-speed broadband. Low population density, difficult terrain, and higher expenses make rural broadband buildout a daunting prospect.

Class-action lawsuit filed against T-Mobile and others over fake ringtones on calls to rural areas

A group of local telephone companies have filed a class-action lawsuit against T-Mobile because of the carrier's previous practice of inserting fake ring tones in some calls to rural areas, which misled many to believe their calls were going through. T-Mobile paid a $40 million fine in 2018 as part of a settlement with the Federal Communications Commission, Bevin Fletcher reports for Fierce Wireless, a wireless industry publication.

"However, the proposed class action lawsuit, filed Friday in an Illinois federal court by Indiana-based Craigville Telephone Company, which does business as AdamsWells Internet Telecom TV, and Minnesota-based Consolidated Telephone Company, asserts the FCC consent decree did nothing to compensate local carriers for harms from T-Mobile’s 'deceptive practices,' arguing it violated the Communications Act, among others, and seeks a judgement of at least $700 million," Fletcher reports.

The lawsuit also names Chicago-based intermediate provider Inteliqunet in allegations of wire fraud and racketeering. According to the suit, the company wanted to reduce expenses on access charges, which it pays to local phone companies for using their networks to terminate calls made by T-Mobile subscribers, Fletcher reports. Inteliqunet, T-Mobile, and several unnamed companies are accused of conspiring to deter or prevent customers from making high-cost phone calls (such as those in rural areas) by strategies such as forcing failed calls. 

"The new lawsuit comes as the operator awaits a significantly more visible court case to get started. Next month the trial to decide T-Mobile’s pending merger with Sprint will kick off, unless a settlement is reached with the more than dozen state AGs suing to block the deal," Fletcher reports. "In its efforts to promote the merger, T-Mobile has pledged to expand wireless coverage, particularly in rural areas." A coalition of rural telecommunications companies and lobbying groups opposes the merger, and the Communications Workers of America has said that T-Mobile hurt rural customers in Iowa after acquiring a major carrier in the state.

Small broadband providers claim partial win over telecomms giants in FCC regulations dispute

"The largest U.S. telephone companies last year asked regulators to kill limits on the rates smaller carriers can be charged for connecting to the giants’ networks," Todd Shields reports for Bloomberg. "Now the small carriers are claiming they have successfully defended the regulations as the Federal Communications Commission nears conclusion of a proceeding it has acted on in parts."

Small broadband companies must connect through lines controlled by telecommunications giants like AT&T and Verizon; the regulations, passed in 1996, aim to ensure that those small companies can access those lines and use them to expand their networks with new fiber links. That makes them more competitive with the big telecoms companies, Shields reports.

USTelecom, a trade group whose members include AT&T and Verizon, petitioned the FCC in May 2018 to eliminate the regulations, which they say will encourage more investment in modern networks. In the petition, USTelecom said greater industry competition and the increasing popularity of wireless service undermines the need for regulations, which they said mostly governed older, copper-wire lines, Shields reports.

Incompas, a trade group that represents small broadband carriers, led a campaign protesting the petition, including letters from more than 9,000 customers to the FCC. In response, USTelecom has made some concessions: in June it withdrew its request to remove regulations around fiber lines that mostly run between rural towns, and in July withdrew its request to eliminate rules about local lines that can carry broadband, Shields reports.

USTelecom is also claiming a partial victory in the issue, since the FCC "eliminated some reporting requirements in April, and earlier this month lifted pricing regulations for lines that carry bulk business traffic in most of the country," Shields reports.

"The FCC must act on the remainder of USTelecom’s petition by Aug. 2, and Chairman Ajit Pai has recommended the agency remove rate mandates on old copper lines that provide voice service, according to a background document provided by the FCC," Shields reports. "The FCC, while not commenting on the outcome, said in a statement that the issues that remain to be decided 'were intended to open monopoly local phone companies to competition in voice services' and are no longer necessary."

Trump shelves tariffs, eases Huawei ban; China agrees to buy more U.S. soybeans but hasn't fulfilled prior promises

This weekend Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to buy more U.S. farm goods in exchange for President Trump postponing another $300 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods. The announcement came after an 80-minute meeting this weekend at the G20 Summit in Japan, Ryan McCrimmon reports for Politico's "Morning Agriculture." Trump also promised to ease up on his trade ban of Chinese company Huawei, whose equipment many rural telecoms carriers rely on.

China bought about 544,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans last week, the largest purchase since March. The move, along with the announcement, signals a renewal in trade talks, which had fallen apart in May. However, "China hasn’t fulfilled its previous promises to buy about 14 million tons of soybeans as part of prior short-term trade deals with Trump," McCrimmon reports. "And, as Bloomberg notes, a Chinese government summary of the truce makes no mention of renewed food and farm purchases." Nor does the agreement mention a deadline to conclude talks.

Postponing the tariffs will likely be a relief for U.S. businesses and consumers. Increased soybean sales to China would also be a big help to U.S. farmers, who "are on track to plant 80 million acres this year, the fewest since 2013, while stockpiles of the crop are swelling as a result of Trump’s trade war," McCrimmon reports. Prices have declined so much that farmers are losing money on the crop.

Trump announces airwave auction to speed 5G network rollout and program to increase rural broadband access

On Friday President Trump announced a plan to speed the rollout of 5G networks and increase rural broadband connectivity.

"Under the plan, the Federal Communications Commission will release a wide swath of high-frequency airwaves for cellular use in what will be the largest trove of U.S. wireless spectrum ever to be auctioned off. As much as 3.4 gigahertz of 'millimeter-wave' spectrum could be sold to wireless carriers such as AT&T and Verizon in the sale, which will begin Dec. 10, according to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai," Brian Fung reports for The Washington Post. "The FCC also proposed a $20 billion fund to expand broadband in rural America over the coming decade, connecting up to 4 million households and small businesses to high-speed Internet, Pai said. The 'Rural Digital Opportunity Fund' could launch later this year, after a period of public notice and comment."

However, Friday's announcement had another purpose beyond informing the public about the auction and the rural broadband program, Aaron Pressman reports for Fortune: "The real agenda was to try and kill a well-funded lobbying effort to convince the federal government to take over 5G airwaves and build a nationalized network that private carriers would have to lease from the government. Supporters included prominent Republicans Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove, as well as Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale. But the idea has driven the U.S. telecommunications industry, which is spending tens of billions of dollars to build private 5G networks, bonkers."

At Friday's event, Trump said that "in the United States, our approach is private-sector driven and private-sector led Government doesn’t have to spend lots of money . . . We had another alternative of doing it that would be through government investment and leading through the government. We don’t want to do that because it won’t be nearly as good, nearly as fast."

Union says T-Mobile hurt rural wireless customers after acquiring an Iowa telecom; implications for Sprint merger

The Communications Workers of America claims that T-Mobile hurt rural wireless customers in Iowa last year when it bought a major wireless carrier in the state. The Rural Wireless Association and the National Wireless Independent Dealers Association agreed with the labor union's report in a reporters' call this week, Mitchell Schmidt reports for The Gazette in Cedar Rapids.

The CWA report compared Iowa's wireless market before and after T-Mobile acquired Iowa Wireless Services, branded as iWireless, in early 2018. It claims rural customers, prepaid customers, and former authorized dealers suffered. According to the report, "before the acquisition, iWireless — which served about 75,000 customers in Iowa, western Illinois and eastern Nebraska — had one of the largest retail footprints of any wireless carrier in Iowa with 129 corporate and authorized dealer locations," Schmidt reports. T-Mobile "discontinued the network and closed 86 percent of the provider’s retail locations and its two customer service call centers."

Though T-Mobile claimed it expanded service in rural areas, it has not opened a T-Mobile branded store outside urban areas since the purchase, said Debbie Goldman, research and telecommunications policy director with CWA. In essence, she said, "The company gutted a carrier that previously provided convenience and choice to thousands of rural customers."

CWA, RWA and NWIDA representatives said they fear that the proposed merger of T-Mobile and Sprint could have a similar effect nationwide. In joint comments filed with the New York Public Service Commission, T-Mobile and Sprint promised the merger would result in at least 600 new stores in small towns and rural areas nationwide, along with thousands of new retail and customer service jobs by 2021. The companies also said they would need to hire about 1,800 workers by 2021 to transition the T-Mobile and Sprint networks in rural areas and expand rural coverage, Schmidt reports.