In rural US, a wide gap in access to broadband

Ferry County in northeastern Washington spans more than 2,200 square miles of mostly forestland, rivers and lakes. And according to the Federal Communications Commission, everyone in the sprawling county has access to broadband internet.

But that is not the reality experienced by the roughly 7,500 residents of this county, which is rich in natural beauty but internet-poor.

The county seat, Republic, has basic broadband service, supplied by a community cable TV company owned by residents. But go beyond the cluster of blocks in the small town, and the high-speed service drops off quickly. People routinely drive into town to use Wi-fi in the public library and other spots for software updates, online shopping or schoolwork, said Elbert Koontz, Republic’s mayor.

“We don’t really have broadband coverage across the county,” Koontz said. “We’re out in the woods.”

A new study by Microsoft researchers casts a light on the actual use of high-speed internet across the country, and it presents a very different picture than the FCC numbers. Their analysis, presented at a Microsoft event Tuesday in Washington, D.C., suggests that the speedy access is much more limited than the FCC data shows.

Overall, Microsoft concluded that 162.8 million people do not use the internet at broadband speeds, while the FCC says that broadband is not available to 24.7 million Americans. The discrepancy is particularly stark in rural areas. In Ferry County, for example, Microsoft estimates that only about 2 percent of people use broadband service, versus the 100 percent that the federal government says have access to the service.

Fast internet service is crucial to the modern economy, and closing the digital divide is seen as a step toward shrinking the persistent gaps in economic opportunity, educational achievement and health outcomes in the U.S. In some areas with spotty or no service, children do their homework in Wi-fi-equipped buses or fast-food restaurants, small businesses drive to internet hot spots

RAJAH BOSE/THE NEW YORK TIMES New research from Microsoft says that far fewer people have broadband internet access than government statistics have shown. “We don’t really have broadband coverage across the county,” said Mayor Elbert Koontz of Republic, Wash. “We’re out in the woods.”