Our Internet Isn’t Ready for Coronavirus

Just as our public health system appears unable to cope with the spread of the coronavirus, our residential broadband, video conferencing platforms and VPNs are about to face unprecedented strain. That strain will have serious consequences, not just for the performance of our broadband networks but also for student access to education and the security of corporate data and networks. The performance issues might be worse in rural areas, where internet service is already less reliable than it is in big cities. Roughly three million children in the United States do not have internet access at home, which means that schools in poor, rural areas may face much greater obstacles trying to provide remote learning to students than those in urban or more affluent areas. On top of performance concerns, there are also new online security issues. 

Unfortunately, improving the quality and availability of broadband isn’t something that can be done overnight. In the long term, in order for working from home to be a viable emergency response to situations like these, we will need to invest more heavily in residential broadband than we previously thought necessary. In the short term, we need to rethink how technology can best be used to support remote work and education efforts. This could mean relying less on the potential of video conferencing technologies to recreate in-person classrooms and meetings, and instead exploring how lower-bandwidth, asynchronous technologies — such as message boards, emails and recorded lectures — can be used more effectively. The future of working from home may be more low-tech than we imagined.

[Dr. Wolff is an assistant professor at Tufts University]