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Why 23 million Americans don't have fast internet - YouTube
Channel: Vox
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"I want to tell you my secret now..."
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"I see..."
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Do you want to know what Haley Joel Osment
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says in The Sixth Sense?
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What about this noise?
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For many Americans,
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slow internet or no internet is still a reality,
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and the internet speed in Nashville, Tennessee,
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might not be as fast in Nashville, Kansas.
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Besides missing "Stranger Things,
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having a slow connection
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can mean increased health risks,
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a limited education,
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or having less money,
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all of which, creates a divided country,
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because the fact is:
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all American internet is not equal.
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In 2015, The FCC defined "broadband" as internet with
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download speeds of at least 25 Megabits per second
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and uploads of at least 3.
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That basically means, a constant connection
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capable of streaming videos,
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sending messages,
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and transferring data.
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On multiple devices.
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Overall, 10 percent of Americans don't have broadband.
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But rural areas suffer most.
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39 percent of rural Americans,
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about 23 million people, don't have high-speed internet.
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This map shows where broadband is available
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and areas it has yet to reach.
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In places where broadband adoption is higher,
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so is the number of people
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who've earned a college degree.
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Fewer people are unemployed,
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and the rates of poverty are also lower.
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Without fast internet,
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rural Americans have a difficult time
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accessing government services, like Medicare.
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And as education moves online,
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students struggle to complete assignments at home.
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In a few rural districts,
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superintendents have loaded school buses with wi-fi
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and parked them overnight in neighborhoods
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where kids need it to do their homework.
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These communities would benefit from broadband,
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so why don't they have it?
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In cities, most broadband is "wireline",
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which typically means it is delivered through
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fiber optic cables that have been laid in the ground.
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Laying cables is expensive,
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but there's an incentive for providers:
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high population density means hundreds of people
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pay to access the same network.
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In rural areas, that's not the case.
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So large telecoms, like AT&T and Comcast,
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don't prioritize extending cable lines
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if they only reach a few people.
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But there is an alternative,
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and that's "wireless" broadband:
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which is either beamed from a satellite, or relayed
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from the nearest fixed wireless point by antennas.
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In places like Appalachia or The Rocky Mountains,
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a wireless system can be
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an effective way to provide internet.
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But its quality is not as reliable as wireline.
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Outside of traditional providers, a few tech companies
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are trying to create new wireless options
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that could be used in rural areas around the world.
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This video is from Project Loon:
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Alphabet's internet-beaming balloon system
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designed to connect people in remote areas
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using wireless technology.
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Like Loon, Facebook also has
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its own wireless project:
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a solar-powered drone called Aquila,
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which Mark Zuckerberg hopes will help reach,
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"half the world's population -- 4 billion people --
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--[who] still can't access the internet."
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And then, there's Microsoft,
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which is focusing on rural broadband, here in America.
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Their plan is to send wireless internet
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using unlicensed television frequencies,
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called "white spaces".
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While these companies pursue futuristic projects
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that focus on wireless,
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a proven example for providing wireline connections,
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in The US, lies in the opposite direction:
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The Past.
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In 1935, President Roosevelt created
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The Rural Electrification Administration, or "REA",
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to deliver electricity to rural America.
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Before then, most Americans receiving electricity
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got it from private companies.
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But The REA changed that.
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It loaned federal funding to electric cooperatives
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that built power lines private companies wouldn't.
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Within a few decades, most of America was electrified
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and now some of those same co-ops
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are providing internet.
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But unlike electrification,
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which relied almost entirely on co-ops,
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there are many models for deploying broadband.
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For example, the city of Cedar Falls, Iowa
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built its own municipal network
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and later used a portion of a federal grant
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to extend the network to nearby rural communities.
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"We are seizing the potential of the internet
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and other technologies."
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For the past two decades, presidents have been
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allocating federal dollars for high-speed internet.
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"We must bring the promise of broadband technology
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to millions of Americans."
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But rural broadband has been an evolving challenge.
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"When you look at the speeds we're going to need
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for all the apps and the videos,
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and all the data,
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new software that is constantly coming onto market.
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We've got to keep pace.
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We've got to be up to speed."
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President Obama increased funding and enabled
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municipal networks like the one in Cedar Falls,
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which are prohibited in other states.
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Now, President Trump is calling for
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even more investment, while also
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scaling back Obama's policies.
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Standing near a tractor in June,
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President Trump announced his new infrastructure plan.
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"That is why I will be including a provision
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in our infrastructure proposal --
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$1 trillion dollar proposal,
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you'll be seeing it very shortly
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to promote and foster enhanced broadband access
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for rural America, also!"
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The speech drew a big applause in Iowa, but
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but Trump's commitment may have been misleading.
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Not only because the proposal has not arrived yet,
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but, less than two months after his speech,
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The FCC outlined priorities for the new administration,
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Including a suggestion to set
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a lower mobile broadband benchmark
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of 10 Megabits per second.
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That's roughly equivalent to 4G mobile phone coverage,
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which most of America
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already receives from major providers.
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So if the broadband benchmark becomes 10,
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nearly all of America would be covered
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and the government could claim they've
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fulfilled their promise to increase rural broadband.
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But in reality, all they've done is redefined
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what it means to offer high speed internet.
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It would be a standard sufficient for social media
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and other apps, but falls short of the
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high speed service that can help schools,
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businesses, and rural healthcare facilities.
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On an international scale, it would signal that The FCC
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is fine with connectivity slower than mobile speeds
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in Kenya or Greece, both of which
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rank higher than The United States.
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Dropping the benchmark lowers the broadband goal,
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but using electrification as a funding model
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could help reach it where it is.
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Expansion is expensive.
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But history and research show that
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providing equal internet for all Americans
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is worth it.
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