Rural Areas Handicapped by Lack of Broadband Access

A revolution has occurred in the computer and telecommunications industries in the past decade and a half, and it has opened up amazing opportunities; but the lack of access to broadband in large areas of the rural U.S. has left its citizens far behind.

In an era when both corporations and workers have discovered the advantages of telecommuting, rural workers without access to broadband are being left in the dust. Living in an area where jobs are both scarce and low-paying, many workers could benefit from a freelance arrangement with a company in Boston, Manhattan, Chicago, or Los Angeles, earning an urban salary without having to leave their homes-but for lack of high-speed Internet access.

At a time when millions of good-paying jobs have gone offshore to places like Bangalore, India, U.S. companies are beginning to find that a good working relationship with a U.S. independent contractor is actually more efficient and cost-effective than shipping projects overseas. Work ranging from book composition to graphics design to computer-generated drafting can be done well by U.S. citizens working out of their homes. Unfortunately, many of the skilled jobs available for freelancers involve transferring large computer files back and forth, a process almost impossible with a slow dial-up connection.

The availability of sophisticated computer and telecommunications equipment at reasonable prices has served to open up opportunities to many thousands of workers, but the playing field isn't level yet. The federal and state governments need to light a fire underneath U.S. Internet providers and telephone companies to get broadband technology spread throughout the country, fast. The alternative is to accept a widening economic gap between the haves and have-nots, between urban and rural workers, in the U.S.-a gap that could easily be bridged, in part, by access to broadband.