Nationally, one-third of adults ages 65 and older say they’ve never used the internet, and half don’t have internet access at home. Of those who do use the internet, nearly half say they need someone else’s help to set up or use a new digital device.
Rural and remote learners are disadvantaged even with online provision due to poor connections. Broadband offers a potential solution. This paper looks at the initial results of a project to install broadband services in the Western Isles of Scotland. It focuses on the educational potential of broadband and the design implications for online courses. It also considers more informal kinds of learning that broadband facilitates in rural areas.
The digital economy offers home based micro-businesses in rural areas many advantages but stubborn social,economic and territorial digital divides continue to create challenges for this sector of the rural economy.Complex digital inequalities are illustrated in our case studies of the digital behavior and Internet experiences of those running micro, home based businesses in a remote, digitally underserved rural community before,during and after the deployment of broadband technology. Findings draw attention to the role and importance of fit-for-purpose broadband in promoting digital inclusion for individuals, households and small, home based businesses: in a fast changing digital national and global economy remote rural home based micro-businesses are at risk of being left behind.
Broadband is the most important infrastructure investment a community can make,especially as a new generation of connection is upon us: ultra-broadband.
Communities across the country are in an economic race. To compete, they need employers and qualified workers, both of which require a robust information- and knowledge-sharing infrastructure. While some communities are ahead of the pack, others are falling far behind.
Broadband is a critical component in this economic race, allowing businesses large and small to reach customers, farmers to deploy resource-saving technologies, and workers to learn critical job skills.
Beginning in mid-2017, DEEDP endeavored to answer several questions arising surrounding broadband and its impact on rural Missouri. Key questions included broadband’s impact on out-migration and in-migration, the impact of low services, slow speed broadband and relatively high prices compared to areas with fiber’s high-speed broadband and low prices. In the analysis the economic and social impact of high-speed broadband was both qualitatively and quantitatively presented in an easy to understand format designed for policy makers and business executives.
This paper examines the lengthy process the town experienced on its journey to connectivity, and it measures the impact broadband has had on Red Cliff residents.
This report is an updated and revised edition of NRECA’s 2019 report, “Electric Cooperatives Bring High-Speed Communications to Underserved Areas.” The original report summarized findings from NRECA’s 2018 series of twelve case studies of electric cooperatives that have entered the broadband communications business. This new version of the report summarizes the original 2018 case studies, with updated information,plus another eight case studies completed by NRECA in 2019.
Insights on Rural Broadband Infrastructure and Next Generation Precision Agriculture Technologies