Get Rural America Up to Speed: Closing the Broadband Divide Part 1

It’s been a few weeks since starting my Capstone Project, and I’ve gotten a better idea of what the project entails. Our project sponsor, The Precision Ag Connectivity & Accuracy Stakeholder Alliance (PAgCASA), has been attempting to map the rural broadband divide by giving rural communities the tools that they need to accurately measure their connectivity levels.

How do rural communities compare?

According to the FCC’s 2020 Broadband Deployment Report, 22.3% of Americans in rural areas and 27.7% of residents in Tribal lands lack access to high-speed broadband coverage, as opposed to 1.5% of Americans in urban areas (high-speed connections are defined as fixed terrestrial connections with 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds). These figures have decreased year-over-year. By comparison, in 2014 39.7% of rural Americans and 42.9% of tribal residents lacked access to fixed high-speed broadband connections. However, it is important to note that urban connectivity was above 95% during this time period.

Why does this matter?

Our world has become more and more digital with each year that passes. Technology allows people to learn, work, socialize, and more with others around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted how critical broadband infrastructure is to all communities, with entire households learning and working remotely.

To an extent, the FCC’s connectivity goals establish a bare minimum for high-speed connectivity standards. The above speed guide displays the average minimum download speeds required for common internet activities. As one could imagine 25 Mbps could be easily reached by a handful of devices streaming a video, participating in a conference call, or gaming. Additionally, the FCC’s data is self-reported by ISPs and rates connectivity at the census block level, meaning that connectivity rates could potentially be significantly underreported.

This project is a grassroots effort that attempts to close the digital gap by empowering communities with the data that they need to advocate for targeted improvements to their telecommunications infrastructure. Part 2 of this post will go into more detail about the desired outcomes.