Oregon Cities Enjoy Fast Internet. Rural Areas Not So Much.

Portland (OR) residents enjoy some of the nation’s fastest Internet speeds, but newly released Census data shows rural parts of the state continue to lag way behind. In some communities, fewer than half of the homes have fast Internet service. “With the rural markets the state doesn’t do well – or as well,” said Joe Franell, chief executive of Eastern Oregon Telecom, a small Hermiston company serving residents and businesses in seven communities. Overall, the Census found 87 percent of Oregon households were broadband subscribers in 2017. That’s up from 78 percent just five years earlier, and above the national figure of 84 percent. The Census finds up to 98 percent of homes in Portland have broadband access in some areas. It’s quite a different story in some parts of east Multnomah County, where as many as 25 percent of households have no Internet access at all. The divide is even greater in rural communities such as Lake, Jefferson -- and also parts of Clackamas County -- where broadband penetration hovers around 50 percent.