Staying connected: Pandemic puts rural internet to the test

The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 disease, continues to spread in countries across the globe after first being identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019. The first case in the United States was confirmed in January 2020. Since then, the virus has spread, leading to quarantines and stay-at-home orders being put in place throughout the country. As a precaution, workers and students need to connect online rather than in person because of the pandemic.

Reliable high-speed internet is more important than ever in 2020—and access in rural areas can lag significantly behind that of cities. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines insufficient service as “connection speeds of less than 10 megabits per second download and 1 Mbps upload.” The Federal Communications Commission estimates that 21 million Americans lack access to broadband—and the number could be much higher.

Many states across the High Plains closed down in-person classes at universities for the remainder of the spring semester to protect the health and safety of students, instructors and staff. K-12 school buildings across the country were also closed for at least several weeks to help control the spread of the virus.

In mid-March, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced the closure of all K-12 school buildings for the rest of the 2019-2020 academic year, the first state in the U.S. to do so. With the guidance of Continuous Learning Task Force of superintendents, teachers and other educational professionals, school districts have been tackling the unprecedented challenge of developing new educational delivery methods and providing academic curriculum primarily using online platforms, without much time to implement the changes.

A statewide stay-at-home order also went into effect in Kansas on March 30, and the executive order urged essential businesses to allow employees to work remotely wherever possible. Telework and digital instruction platforms for Kansans and others in the High Plains facing similar orders depend on families having reliable internet at home.

Cooperative Extension offices, universities, crop and livestock organizations and other groups also changed many of their programs to webinars and teleconferences, for which rural Americans also need reliable web access.

Local business works quickly to provide solutions

Jeff Renner is customer operations manager for United Wireless in Dodge City, Kansas. He said the day after Kelly’s announcement regarding school closures, United Wireless reached out to school districts in the 17 counties that make up the company’s wireless footprint in southwest Kansas to offer the company’s help in connecting students who didn’t already have home internet access.

“We made an offer that for anybody that was a United Wireless customer and had a wireless smartphone, we would turn on the hotspot on their cell phone for free, for any families needing the internet for continuing education,” Renner said. In addition to wireless hotspots, the company offered wireless routers and DSL.

He said United Wireless had responded to more than 200 requests in the small towns that it serves by March 27 and expected to hear from several more school districts. The districts have said the help was a godsend, Renner noted, as they had students who needed to be able to learn online and little time to get them connected before online instruction began.

Renner said having so many people working and learning from home turning on and using wireless internet all at the same time likely would be a struggle and reveal weaknesses in the network. “Some of the networks are already at capacity, so this will add additional strain to the wireless network,” he said.

Customers in towns where fiber internet and other broadband options are available would not experience those same problems. Although wireless internet doesn’t provide as much bandwidth as fiber, being able to deploy a wireless device allowed the company to respond quickly to students’ needs over a broad area.

“Kind of the lifeblood of a wireless network is the spectrum. And, you know, one spectrum is a finite resource,” Renner continued. “When you have a whole bunch of people turn on devices at the same time, they’re all sharing that network, so every additional person that gets on adds that much more drain on that resource.”

The Federal Communications Commission developed the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund to improve broadband access in rural areas of the U.S. Renner said that over time the RDOF will help them expand networks in towns in United Wireless’s area that don’t currently have broadband internet available.

FCC initiatives address temporary challenges

Although the rural broadband gaps that exist across the country can’t all be addressed immediately, the FCC has announced other initiatives to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. On March 17, the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau granted Special Temporary Authority to U.S. Cellular to allow the use of additional spectrum to help meet increased customer demand for mobile broadband during the coronavirus pandemic. This STA allows U.S. Cellular to operate for 60 days in spectrum licensed to Advantage Spectrum in the AWS-3 Band to provide more capacity to U.S. Cellular customers. The FCC later granted a similar request by T-Mobile.

“During this crisis, the FCC is committed to pulling out all the stops so that broadband service providers are able to meet the changing needs of the American public…. We will continue to do everything we can to keep Americans connected,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a release.

Pai also announced the Keep Americans Connected Initiative. To make sure Americans do not lose broadband or telephone connectivity during the pandemic, he asked broadband and telephone service providers and trade associations to take the Keep Americans Connected Pledge, which states:

“Given the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on American society, [[Company Name]] pledges for the next 60 days to:

1. Not terminate service to any residential or small business customers because of their inability to pay their bills due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic;

2. Waive any late fees that any residential or small business customers incur because of their economic circumstances related to the coronavirus pandemic; and

3. Open its Wi-Fi hotspots to any American who needs them.”

More than 550 companies and associations have signed the pledge to date.

Internet access is not uniform across America and likely never will be, but sufficient broadband service is critical for communities of all sizes. Federal, state and local programs and partnerships in different states will continue working to help close the digital divide and ensure that rural Americans stay connected.

Renner said when a tornado hit the southwest Kansas community of Greensburg in 2007, United Wireless had people on the ground that same night. He continued, “When the Ashland and Comanche County fires were going on, we had people on the ground and helping.” Now the company is sending people to help meet needs due to the coronavirus pandemic. “Local providers of service are truly people who are in your community and in times of need will step up and help,” he said.

Shauna Rumbaugh can be reached at 620-227-1805 or [email protected].