In the past four years, broadband providers have invested more than $250 billion in the effort to expand access to broadband technology. Building out networks and providing high-speed Internet to underserved regions of the country has allowed rural America to benefit from increased business and economic opportunities, advanced healthcare and enriched educational programs.Read more

Located off the beaten path and nearly 90 miles from the nearest shopping center, the former mining town of Darwin, California isn’t only disconnected from the more populated areas of the state but also from broadband access.Read more

On Thursday, March 8, Broadband for America hosted a Twitter interview with the National Grange, a Broadband for America member, that focused on the ways broadband enhances rural communities and agriculture.Read more

America’s ranchers and farmers have long been the top producers of agricultural goods for the world’s population.  As modern techniques and equipment have teamed with modern information technology, the average American farmer now feeds 155 people.  In the 1960’s, when most of today’s operations were only just beginning, one farmer was capable, on average, of feeding about 25 people.&nRead more

I grew up in rural Illinois. By "rural" I mean, I grew up outside of a town of 3,000 people, in the middle of cornfields. By Illinois standards, that's a pretty small town. By the standards of the rest of the Midwest, that's not "that" rural. We were just close enough to the central hub of Chicago to have the amenities of reliable phone service.Read more

"Rural Americans deserve the same opportunities for medical care as metropolitan-area residents," US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a news release announcing another round of rural healthcare grants from the USDA. The department’s Rural Development Program authorized $30.2 million to fund 100 telemedicine programs in 34 states.Read more