爆料公社

The internet is an integral part of everyday life for most Americans. We use it to communicate with friends and family, stream our favorite TV shows and shop from the comfort of our living rooms. More importantly, this technology connects health care providers with patients, teachers with students and businesses with a global marketplace.

Affordable, high-speed internet is almost a necessity in today鈥檚 world, yet many people living in the U.S. . The Federal Communications Commission estimates that 鈥�6% of the population鈥攄on鈥檛 have access to broadband services at minimum threshold speeds. A majority of these people鈥�14.5 million鈥攍ive in rural areas.

鈥淲e feel for people in rural areas who are suffering from this,鈥� said 爆料公社 at Kearney professor Tim Obermier, who is researching the digital divide with his colleague Angela Hollman. 鈥淵ou hear anecdotally all the time that people can鈥檛 get good, quality internet.鈥�

In a state where roughly 35% of the residents live in rural areas, it鈥檚 easy to spot the disparities.

The Pandemic Has Exposed a Greater Need for Broadband

The COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated the importance of broadband, as people were forced to work and to do schoolwork at home. It also underscored the 鈥渄igital divide鈥� between the adequacy of service in urban and rural areas.

There are stories of families having to drive their kids to libraries in town, parking lots near schools or high hills near their ranch to access鈥痑dequate internet service to do homework. Businesses won鈥檛 locate or expand in rural areas unless they have high-speed internet.

Hollman, an associate professor in UNK鈥檚 Department of Cyber Systems, can share story after story about UNK students who struggled with remote learning because they don鈥檛 have a high-speed internet connection at home. This has impacted their ability to view lectures or upload assignments, forcing some students to drive to a relative鈥檚 house to get online or find a Wi-Fi hotspot they could access with their smartphone.

UNK faculty faced the same problems. Before she found another internet provider, Hollman had trouble with Zoom calls while working from her home northwest of Gibbon, an area that also lacks cell reception. Hollman said, 鈥淟ack of broadband had a direct impact on my line of work, and it had a direct impact on students who were trying to get their education remotely.鈥� These personal challenges created even more motivation to help Nebraska solve this problem.

Closing the Broadband Divide

Obermier has conducted multiple studies analyzing the cost and capacity of internet services in Nebraska. However, that research relied on generalized data that came from the providers themselves. To fully understand the issue, Obermier and Hollman are taking this research one step further by comparing a customer鈥檚 internet package with the actual bandwidth they鈥檙e receiving.

鈥淏roadband doesn't just impact education and health care, it affects economic development. Farming is the number one industry in the state, and agriculture has to be connected to broadband.鈥�

This data will more accurately depict the deficit experienced by rural residents, agricultural producers, businesses, schools and communities as a whole鈥攚hile assisting regulatory agencies and internet providers working to close the digital divide.

Along with residences, businesses and schools, precision agriculture is another area of interest for the researchers. Many ag operations have massive data needs鈥攚hether they鈥檙e adjusting an irrigation pivot on a smartphone, mapping crop yields from the cab of a combine or using high-tech ear tags to monitor the health of their livestock.

鈥淚f you look down the road at what these farmers are going to need 10 years from now, we鈥檙e not even close to that,鈥� said Obermier.

Focusing on Broadband Access

Rural broadband access is important enough that Nebraska鈥檚 governor, Pete Ricketts, will likely focus on expanding it with some of the $5 billion in federal stimulus money the state receives. At a time when more people are working remotely from home, Ricketts put $29 million of CARES Act money into helping Nebraskans get better connected to the internet. He has since proposed鈥� in this year鈥檚 budget.

鈥淭he federal government recently stated that they're going to spend $80 billion on infrastructure. Our research shows where the gaps are at, which allows the policymakers to make better decisions on where funding is directed.鈥�

The ultimate goal of Hollman and Obermier鈥檚 project is to 鈥渧isualize鈥� the digital divide, giving regulatory agencies and internet providers a clearer picture of where broadband infrastructure needs to improve. It鈥檚 a topic receiving both state and national attention.

Obermier and Hollman have presented their project to FCC subcommittees, the Nebraska Information Technology Commission and Nebraska Telecommunications Association, economic development districts and Nebraska state senators.

There鈥檚 also interest from internet providers that could use the UNK research to satisfy reporting requirements tied to federal funding awarded to companies to expand broadband services. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e receiving thousands of dollars to roll out networks鈥攁nd now the government is asking them to verify that their networks work,鈥� Obermier explained.

Hollman believes their project can be a model for broadband mapping across the country. 鈥淭he internet isn鈥檛 going away,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e only going to need more of it.鈥�