Rural Georgians hope to finally see faster internet

QUITMAN — Rural Georgians who have lived for years with slow internet service are looking to state lawmakers for help.

A proposal has emerged in the General Assembly that could bring broadband service to rural areas, The Valdosta Daily Times reported.

Statewide, at least 626,070 Georgians are without access to broadband service, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

The number is probably closer to 1.6 million Georgians who lack access to adequate broadband, according to the state Department of Community Affairs, which is mapping areas of the state.

The agency’s work so far reveals a patchwork of coverage that is particularly thin in parts of middle and south Georgia.

Across much of rural Georgia, residents with little or no internet service are also customers of not-for-profit electric cooperatives. The cooperatives have been providing electricity to rural communities nationally since the 1930s.

Near the Georgia-Florida line, Molly Radford said she signed up for the fastest internet she could get in rural Brooks County, where her family has owned farmland for more than a century. But many of the speed tests on her computer have clocked crawling speeds that barely even register.

For Radford, that means streaming or downloading video is out of the question. She is able to log onto social media or check her email, as long as no one dares send her a photo.