This month, Oregon Business Magazine did a great piece on lack of broadband access in rural communities. Here's the rundown on rural connectivity: Rural communities still lack high speed internet connections because of the high cost of "the last mile." Many rural communities have some broadband connectivity, but mostly because local leaders have set broadband infrastructure as a financial priority and initiated innovative public/private partnerships. Thanks to the American Reinvestment Act, broadband will be coming to more rural places, but the ultimate impact of the broadband simulus funding is still unknown.

Many of us who live in connected places (myself included) have come to view high speed internet as a basic utility. It's necessary in our homes, not only to stream video and exchange large files online, but to access information. When one group of people lacks the ability to access information because of where they live, that is wrong. It limits their ability to participate and learn about issues that affect their lives. Broadband availability doesn't only affect the individual however, it affects organizations, industries, and entire economies.

We experience this in our work, because RDI employees work out of their homes in rural areas across the region. This means that we have to "connect" virtually every day both with each other and with the rural people we serve. We use e-mail and VOIP programs like Skype to communicate, we access our company server through a VPN, and we use online project management software. All of this necessitates a broadband internet connection. Dial-up, satellite, and cellular internet are all options for folks who don't have broadband in their area, but nothing compares to the speed and reliability of wired broadband. Our organization serves as an example of how essential high speed internet is to conducting business.

Oregon Business Magazine interviewed friend of RDI Lisa Dawson, director of the Northeast Economic Development District, about the effect the digital divide has on rural economies. "Lack of broadband access is extremely limiting when recruiting new businesses, and rural counties with low broadband access are often passed over," says Lisa Dawson. “You’re out of the running to begin with,” she says. Not only does it matter to rural economies for attracting new business, but broadband access allows rural entrepreneurs to connect with markets outside of their geographic region by doing business online.

The article also offers an example of how connectivity can affect an entire industry and why it has become a priority for local governments:

Most of the access in the rural parts of the state is available because local governments scraped together the funds to build it themselves. . . in 2002 the Educational Service District in Wallowa County built a wireless T-1 network with speeds of 1.5 Mbps comparable to what a business with 20 to 50 employees might use. That network now provides Internet access to schools in Enterprise, Joseph and Wallowa cities, and the Wallowa Memorial Hospital in Enterprise. It used to take three days for the hospital to send X-rays to be read in Bend; now it takes an hour.

Earlier this year Governor Kulongoski appointed a broadband advisory council "to develop and ensure the implementation of a statewide broadband network with a focus on extending broadband access to unserved and underserved communities across Oregon," and Oregon won $2.1 million to identify areas in need of broadband infrastructure. Both the state and national iniatives have prioritized "last mile" projects, but it's still unclear what this will really mean for rural communities that need high speed internet to access information, conduct business, and support thier local ecnomies and industries.

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