Last month, I logged a five-state, 18-stop, 1,672-mile road trip from Wisconsin to Wyoming to learn firsthand about the connectivity challenges in that part of the country. And this week, I took a three-state, 8-stop, 800-mile drive through rural West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland that highlights how the digital divide is hardly confined to the middle of our nation, but is a real and pressing challenge just a short drive from our nation’s capital.
Consider this fact: more than 70% of the world’s Internet traffic runs through data centers in Northern Virginia, but you can’t even get 4G LTE wireless service on more than 7,700 road miles in rural parts of the same state. And this is unfortunately common nationwide. If you live in rural America, there’s a better than 1-in-4 chance that you lack access to fixed high-speed broadband at home, compared to a 1-in-50 probability in our cities.
I saw the cost of lack of access at almost every stop during this week’s travels. In Hampshire County, West Virginia, I heard how a resort in the town of Capon Springs that doesn’t have broadband has had trouble attracting guests who prize connectivity. On that same stop, I spoke with the owner of a chocolate store from nearby Kirby who told me that poor or nonexistent Internet access prevents him from serving his customers, maintaining the store’s Facebook page, and growing his business.