Shara Tibken

The decades of US redlining represent a form of systematic racism that has denied generations of Black communities the kind of opportunities many other Americans enjoy, and the fear is it's happening again with broadband internet service. Big providers, when deciding where to invest the money to upgrade their networks, often focus on wealthier parts of cities and shun low-income communities. Fiber connections are expensive, and internet service providers are hesitant to expand unless they expect a return on their investment.

Microsoft said that it's expanding its Airband program, which was initially designed to connect rural areas, to eight cities: Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, El Paso, Texas, and Memphis. Along with enabling inexpensive broadband, Microsoft will make devices more affordable by providing free and low-cost refurbished computers and tablets to communities of color through partners like PCs for People, Human-I-T and PlanITROI, a company whose Digital Dreams Project provides refurbished devices to K-12 students in need.

Federal and state governments have earmarked billions of dollars to build out fast internet service, but most plans don't address one of the biggest reasons people don't have broadband at home: They can't afford to pay for service. If the early days of the Emergency Broadband Benefit program are any indication, there is big demand for a more substantial subsidy. In the first week of the program, more than 1 million households signed up. Some civil rights and consumer groups are joining with the broadband industry to push Congress to make the broadband subsidy permanent.

Some states are starting to move with more urgency to solve the broadband gap. It's a problem that affects millions of Americans and is particularly urgent in light of a pandemic that has forced most interactions, from classes to weddings, to go online. While the federal government works to allocate $20 billion on top of billions of dollars in funding already earmarked for unserved communities, there remains a lack of understanding of where the problems lie.

The faulty Federal Communications Commission national broadband map has essentially made millions of Americans without fast internet "invisible," as Microsoft put it, and unless the data improve, they're likely to remain so. But there's reason to be hopeful. Thanks to $65 million in funding from Congress in Dec, the FCC now will require internet service providers to share more detailed data, giving a better picture of what areas are unserved by broadband.

About as far west as you can go in the US before hitting Russia lies the string of Aleutian Islands. It's where the Discovery Channel's The Deadliest Catch is filmed and where most fish destined for restaurants in the continental US gets processed.  A tiny school system in the region, the Aleutians East Borough School District, educates 230 students across four schools. About 85% of the kids are Alaska Native. Traveling between the four schools requires flights on twin-engine planes or, in one case, a flight followed by a helicopter ride.

Schools are being forced to tackle the digital divide problem in their districts, becoming experts in complex broadband options seemingly overnight. That's on top of grappling with how to make sure their low-income students are fed and healthy, and navigating archaic regulations controlling how they receive funding.

For many people in the rural US -- from stretches of Kansas to vast swaths of Alaska -- it's like living in an undeveloped nation when it comes to internet connectivity. Population density matters because it determines whether an internet company will invest in building out its network or if it will stick to its traditional borders. The problem runs deeper than the willingness of ISPs to move into new areas.