Two Barriers Trapping Rural Families Offline

Whether it’s school, work, health, or support, rural communities are depending on the internet more and more each year. But getting online isn’t as simple as clicking a button. The following two barriers demonstrate just how wide the gap is and how it uniquely affects rural areas.

1. Cost

Rural areas often lack the advanced infrastructure of cities, so providers use expensive satellite or fixed wireless for coverage. These methods inherently have limits like signal lags and weather disruptions, leading providers to impose data caps to manage network overload. Families pay for plans with a strict monthly gigabyte limit, but going over triggers added fees. Unlimited data is very uncommon because of infrastructure limitations.

Broadband is harder to afford in rural areas because incomes are lower. Only about 61.9% of rural households have a broadband subscription, compared with 77.6% of non-rural households, leaving around 2.7 million rural homes with no internet at all. 

On top of that, many rural households are “subscription vulnerable,” where they may technically have service, but struggle to keep it. About 44% of rural homes fit this category, meaning a single financial setback could lead to complete disconnection. For families, this can turn every form of using data into a trade-off because more time online creates a bigger bill. 

Over time, this kind of rationing creates a notable, complicated strain on families that have to make difficult decisions regarding what needs are “worth” using data and which questions can wait until the new payout or a trip to a town with better Wi-Fi.

2. Reliability 

Even when rural residents pay for broadband, what they get is typically slower and less stable than in cities. In some states, just about 31% of rural users reach speeds of 100/20 Mbps, whereas more than 68% of urban users do. That means video calls freeze, online forms time out, health portals log people out before they finish, symptom checkers crash on reload, and the list continues.

This issue stems from aging infrastructure. Much of rural America still relies on DSL lines, twisted copper phone wires that max out at 10-25 Mbps, installed in the 1990s and early 2000s. These were never built to support modern day life, where recording video, sending uploads, and accessing modern health portals are the norm.

Outages perpetuate internet unreliability.  Rural areas face severe weather, from floods to blizzards, more than urban zones, because open fields and exposed power lines offer no shelter from the elements. A single event can snap overhead DSL lines, triggering blackouts that last days to a week because repair crews must drive hours from distant urban hubs over potholed roads, bringing parts with no local warehouse in sight. 

Looking To The Future

Basic needs like the internet shouldn’t depend on where you live. Unfortunately, we live in a world where they still do. While efforts like telehealth push to create easier access, they fall flat if the internet drops mid-call or drains the monthly budget. Better, cheaper internet is a necessary component of rural progress.