Report: Slow Going Internet Access Cripples Rural Economies

Communities without speedy Internet connections are being economically crippled, according to a new report by experts on broadband access in rural America.

Having broadband access may not mean a sharp increase in jobs in a region, according to the report by the Center for Rural Strategies, but not having it will probably mean fewer jobs. James Wright, executive director of the Development Authority of the North Country, agrees. He says far-flung parts of rural New York - and much of America - are very underserved. "The general description is accurate, which is why you have a federal initiative to extend broadband." Nearly $40 million in stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act have enabled the Authority to begin an expansion of some 550 miles of fiber optic lines into communities between the St. Lawrence River and Adirondack Park. Dr. Sharon Strover of the University of Texas, who compiled the Center for Rural Strategies report on the effects of expanding faster Internet access to rural areas, says that with a slow connection even basic daily functions can put a small business at a big disadvantage. "If you've ever tried to pull up a graphic image on a dial-up connection, you are waiting, conventionally, for a really long time. That means that, in order to do something as simple as ordering a part, you're at just a huge disadvantage without broadband."