Why The Internet Fast Lane Has Bypassed Rural America

WAMU 88.5

Published July 12, 2017 at 8:06 AM MDT

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Alize Way-Heffner, 7, uses a smartphone on August 14, 2016 in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. The small Northeastern Pennsylvania town of 5,000 residents has a rich coal mining history. The majority of nearby coal mines have closed and 20.1% of the population now exists below the poverty line, with a median household income of $18,714.

Mark Makela/Getty Images

Broadband access for more than 23 million rural Americans is lousy. Microsoft says it wants to change that. The tech giant calls it an effort to serve communities who feel left behind. But what’s behind this latest push? Politics or economics?

GUESTS

Christopher Mitchell, Director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Jennifer Levitz, U.S. news reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Matt Larsen, Founder and CEO of Vistabeam, a rural fixed-wireless internet service provider

For more, visit http://the1a.org.