rural

rural school bus
03 Mar 2020

Gaps in Broadband Access: Lagging Internet Contributes to Lagging Test Scores, Leaving Rural Students Behind

0
Poor and No Internet Access Disadvantages Students, Including Lower Grades, Fewer Digital Skills, Lower SAT Scores, and Reduced Interest in Attending University Rural middle and high school students are more likely to have slow Internet connections or limited access from home and to fall behind in homework, grades, digital skills, and standardized test scores, according to a groundbreaking report from Michigan State University’s Quello Center. The educational setbacks can have significant impacts on college admissions, academic success, and career opportunities. Developed and carried out in partnership with Merit Network and 15 Michigan school districts, the report “Broadband and Student Performance […]
CONTINUE READING
12 Sep 2015

Rural Access to Broadband: the Case in Britain Shines Light on a Pattern

0
In Britain, a growing gap between urban and rural Internet speeds is damaging business, adding to farming costs, driving young people away from areas in which they have grown-up, and deterring retirees from moving to some areas of the country. These are some of the conclusions of our in-depth academic study of Internet access that Bill Dutton, Director of the Quello Center, conducted with the dot.rural RCUK Digital Economy Research Hub at the University of Aberdeen, and the Oxford Internet Institute, at the University of Oxford. The report has been published, entitled ‘Two-Speed Britain: Rural Internet Use’. It is based […]
CONTINUE READING
05 Mar 2015

Electric Co-ops as a Vehicle for Bringing Fiber to Rural Areas

0
I recently listened to an interview with Randy Klindt, General Manager of Co-Mo Connect, a rural electric co-op building a gigabit fiber network in Central Missouri. It reminded me that the nation’s rural electric co-operatives can be effective vehicles for deploying advanced communication infrastructure in relatively high-cost and underserved rural areas. Like most electric co-ops, Co-Mo serves a very rural area. Its service area spans 2,300 square miles and includes roughly 31,000 electric meters. That’s only about 13.5 meters per square mile. As Klindt points out, member owned co-ops like Co-Mo have a different perspective than private companies when it […]
CONTINUE READING