Electricity transformed rural America nearly a century ago. Now, millions of people on farms and in small towns desperately need broadband.

At a time when people can work remotely and run businesses from practically anywhere, the internet should be a boon to the rural economy. Not only could it keep Wisconsin's signature farming industry connected, it could help curb population losses in small towns, where many young people feel they must leave for opportunities elsewhere. Yet a significant portion of rural Wisconsin — if it has access to the internet at all — lacks access at broadband speeds, meaning a connection of at least 25 megabit per second downloads and 3 Mbps uploads. For them, ordinary tasks such as posting a video on a website are all but impossible. State officials have estimated that 430,000 people — a quarter of the rural population — lack broadband. In nine counties — Ashland, Clark, Douglas, Iron, Marinette, Price, Richland, Rusk and Taylor — less than half of the rural population had access to broadband speeds in 2019. "The problem isn't just the lack of connections. It's the lack of good connections," said Jonathan Sallet, a senior fellow at the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.