Closing the Homework Gap During COVID-19: Rural Operators Turn to ‘MacGyver Boxes’ and Wi-Fi Broadband

With the shift to distance learning due to COVID-19, some rural telecommunication providers – including South Dakota’s Golden West Telecommunications and Golden Belt Telephone (GBT) of Kansas — have stepped up to add free Wi-Fi hotspots and even to bring broadband to homes with school-age children at no charge. In bringing broadband directly to some homes, Golden West technicians avoided direct contact with residents by using what CEO Denny Law called a MacGyver approach in a reference to the vintage and current television series about a government agent who uses an engineering approach to solve crimes. Golden West put a box of tools together to help with installations and made the MacGyver boxes available in its central offices. Equipment was installed on the side of the house if the customer had a drop there. In other cases, Wi-Fi was beamed into the house from the outside and a box of materials was left on the front step. In some cases, temporary cabling was strung across the front yard.