The Internet Divide Between Rural and Urban America

Many people incorrectly think that everyone around the US has the same internet options. It can be easy to assume that when you move to a rural area, you will have the same internet access that you did when you lived in the city. This is actually not the case and many people are not able to access the internet at all, or only have limited options when they do not reside in an urban location.

About 81% of rural households are plugged into broadband but there are 4.6 million rural households that don’t have a connection to the internet. There are still 13.6 million urban households that do not have access to Broadband either, but they might have access to an equally beneficial connection instead. This divide in access to the internet is drawn along socio-economic lines in many areas. The limitations in access to the internet cause those without it to struggle to experience the same standard of living as people that do have access to quality internet services.

Why Does Internet Access Matter so Much?

If you take a moment and think about all the things that you can no longer do without access to the internet, it immediately becomes clear why access to the internet is so critical. There are an increasingly large number of daily processes that must be completed online that used to be available through other means as well. Applying for jobs, looking for places to live, and paying bills is almost impossible in some cases without access to the internet.

For those who reside in rural areas, there might also be a companion lack of access to cell phone service. In urban areas, some of these processes can be completed through the use of a smartphone, but rural residences might not have access to either means of completing these essential processes. This is where the socio-economic and opportunity divide can come into play by limiting people’s access to basic services that are only available online.

The current urban/rural gap in internet access has remained nearly unchanged since 2015. 69% of rural residents did report using the internet at that time, but the study showed that rural residents were uniformly less likely to use or have access to the internet. The original information from this study still holds true even all these years later as an increasingly large portion of our bill paying, information access, and educational processes have been moved 100% online.

The pandemic and the events related to it which began in 2020 have also made it clear how critical good internet access is to those even in rural areas. When social distancing made it clear that most of those living in the US might be forced to work from home or access basic services of various kinds at home online, the need to resolve the divide between rural and urban internet access became very clear for the first time.

The pandemic also revealed a gap between those of different races and their access to the internet in rural areas as well. These statistics and demographics show a troubling divide that desperately needs to be resolved for a large portion of the US population before this lack of internet access leads to further disadvantages being visited upon them.

Is Broadband the Answer?

To many experts, broadband is the most reasonable choice when considering expanding access to the internet in rural areas. Broadband is often the most affordable and easiest kind of internet to provide to locations given the extensive existing infrastructure for its use and support. While some might argue that there is a need to move fiber optic into rural areas, the current cost of this kind of solution is likely to be prohibitive for those living in rural areas.

Being sure that the internet that is offered to areas that did not previously have access to it is affordable is key. Given the statistics about people living in urban areas who also do not have access to Broadband, it becomes clear that internet costs, as well as availability, are working together to limit access to this essential service. Broadband is the most reasonable service to supply to large numbers of people, and the job of moving Broadband out into rural areas is much easier to tackle than the process of delivering other infrastructures to non-urban locations.

RTA is Committed to Solving the Internet Divide

RTA has made it its mission to bring quality internet to rural areas that did not have access to this service before. This is critical to allowing those in rural areas to go to school online, pay bills, look up news and information, and take care of necessary processes that cannot be done anywhere else but online. The divide between internet access that persists between urban and rural areas can be resolved through the efforts of committed internet providers like RTA.

RTA is committed to offering affordable and fast internet that can be used for work, study, and streaming. With affordable access packages and great customer support, RTA is the clear choice for internet access in rural areas all around the US. RTA also offers voice, TV, and network services that many other providers do not. You will get the full set of services that you need for your internet access and home office needs, potentially for the first time. This is the RTA difference and one that customers can expect when they work with us.

If you are ready to get access to fast and reliable internet, you need to contact us today! We can deliver you the kind of stable and affordable connection that you have wanted to have access to but could not get in the past. We are the best provider for your needs if you are located in a rural area and we can help you to work from home, study online, or take care of your daily needs without issues for the first time!