Internet For Rural Areas Of The U.S.

For most Americans, having access to a high speed Internet connection has become as much of a necessity as having access to telephone service or electricity. However, a large portion of the United States is still denied access to this essential source of fast moving information, education and commerce. As we move forward with the economic recovery of 2009, what sources of High Speed Internet while be available in rural America?

The United States has fallen behind many other nations in the high speed Internet race. Where many countries offer fiber to every citizen the U.S. is having difficulty providing rural America with broadband access. As of 2008 only 38% of rural American communities had broadband access and growth in this market is very slow.

That figure contributes greatly to our overall inability to connect our citizens to the high speed Internet. "The U.S. ranks 16th worldwide for the percent of citizens that have high speed internet access, and we pay more when we do have access. In rural areas both access and affordability are significantly worse."

Economic Stimulus Bill

Some hope for more rural Internet service economic lies in the new economic stimulus bill recently signed by President Obama. This bill has set aside $7.2 billion to expand rural broadband access nationwide. Two federal agencies will divide this amount. $4.7 billion goes to the National Telecommunication and Information Administration, which is part of the Department of Commerce. The other $2.5 billion will go to the Rural Utilities Service program in the Department of Agriculture.

How this money will be spent remains to be seen. Although rural advocates maintain that high speed access represents a necessary part in our economic revitalization, there are manythat disagree.Several prominent economists point out that there is little research that suggests improving high speed Internet access to rural areas will help to create jobs or whether rural broadband might boost the economy. It will be interesting to watch how this money is used, and which types of Internet access the two federal agencies in charge of the funds will focus on improving.

Satellite Internet

When it comes to satellite Internet there are very few options. Many rural communities must turn to satellite access for broadband Internet because there are simply no other offerings in the area. Fortunately satellite Internet is available in 48 states and since there are only two providers to choose from we can make the following reviews easily available.

• HughesNet Satellite Internet
• WildBlue Satellite Internet

There are several issues that prevent widespread adoption of satellite Internet service. Latency is built in to the service by design and is unavoidable. There is simply no way to speed up data travelling to and from an orbital satellite. Inclement weather can cause issues with connectivity, and installation as well as equipment can be costly. Satellite does offer speeds up to 5 Mbps and is a good replacement for dial up if no other services are available.

The high initial cost and recurring monthly cost of satellite Internet is one of the main reasons rural Americans still settle for Dial Up Internet.

EVDO Wireless Networks

In the past couple of years, wireless coverage has become quite ubiquitous and may soon also become the solution of choice for high speed Internet connectivity. There have been some recent advances in broadband wireless technology that allows connection speeds from your cell phone or laptop to reach up to 3.1 Mbps (theoretically). Current users of this newbroadband service are reporting typical download speeds between 600 Kbps to 1.4 Mbps -- and some bursts that do reach past 2 Mbps.

The new technology is called EVDO, with stands for "Evolution-Data Optimized". Devices using EVDO will have true high speed connections.Typically, the Internet connection you get with a cellular plan will range from 60 Kbps to 80 Kbps. That's only a little better than dialup (56 Kbps). As you can see, EVDO networks will allow you to access the Internet from a mobile device at speeds comparable to DSL or a satellite connection.

Of course, there are going to be issues with cost and bandwidth limits, and doing serious amounts of typing or surfing is probably not something you want to do from a small cell phone or iPhone. EVDO modems are available that allow you access on your laptop. Still, if you live in a rural area without DSL or cable, and you need to send lots of emails, check stocks, get important downloads, etc., then using a mobile device with EVDO is one way you can do those tasks at broadband speeds.

The companies that have made the most headway with EVDO in rural portion of America are Verizon Wireless and Sprint Wireless. If you have cellular phone service with either of those carriers, check with them to see if you can get EVDO setup, its costs, limitations, etc. For rural Internet users, this might be a good solution for sending emails, Web surfing and downloading some files,but probably not for heavy Internet usage.

WiMax Wireless Internet

WiMax is another option that will become available to a larger degree in rural areas in the very near future. WiMax stands for "Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access" and it promises to provide very high connection speeds, up to 6 Mbps, or even higher. Some very big companies are investing in WiMax networks, including Clearwire, Sprint, Google, and a few others.

The bad news would be that WiMax seems to be going slow on the deployment side. Also, since development of new technology usually starts where the money is, early WiMax efforts have been focused in business-centric areas (not rural).Still, WiMax offers some of the fastest wireless Internet connections available, and in the near future, it might become a more affordable option for high speed Internet in rural areas.

Long Term Evolution (LTE)

At the end of 2008, the FCC voted to authorize the use of unlicensed "white space" spectrum for the development of broadband Internet. The two companies that jumped at this opportunity were Verizon and AT&T. Both of these companies are using this700 Mhz telecommunications spectrum to develop brand new high speed 4G wireless networks. These new networks are based on a technology called "Long Term Evolution", or LTE.

Speeds of the new LTE networks promise to be much faster than DSL or cable. Verizon expects the first deployments of it's 4G LTE network to take place in 2010, and they intend to have their network blanket the country with Wireless Internet Service over the next few years -- even in rural areas. AT&T's network will probably first become available in 2011. Although you can't get LTE right now (as of the end of 2009), it seems to be the one technology that can truly revolutionize Internet access in rural America.

Although none of the options for rural Internet service are ideal at this point in time, they certainly will be improving over the next couple of years. As new Internet technology reaches out into remote portions of the U.S., we'll be sure to report on them here at the High Speed Internet Access Guide.

For more information on High Speed Internet Providers By Zip Code and other forms of high speed rural Internet access, please return to the home page.