Ten States Where The Internet Is Too Slow

In much of the country, access to affordable, high-speed Internet is taken for granted. However, in vast sections of the United States broadband Internet is either unavailable or too expensive for low-income families.

The Federal Communications Commission, the Small Business Committee, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have all urged service providers to expand to rural areas. But the companies contend that it would cost far more to run lines or install wireless towers in these remote areas than the profits that could be made from the few low-income families that live there. Most of the areas with slow or nonexistent Internet access are indeed in remote regions with tiny populations. On the West Coast and in the Northeast, where the average population can by anywhere from 200 to 1,200 people per square mile, providing service makes sense for companies. In areas like Wyoming, Montana and Alaska, the average can be fewer than 10 people per square mile. In addition to a lack of concentrated paying customers and rocky and mountainous terrain, which often goes hand-in-hand with sparse population, complicates the cost of developing broadband networks in these locations. Here's the bottom ten: Missouri, Alaska, Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho.