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About a Quarter of Rural Americans Say Access To High-Speed Internet Is a Major Problem (pewresearch.org)
According to a Pew Research Center survey, 24% of rural adults say access to high-speed internet is a major problem in their local community. "An additional 34% of rural residents see this as a minor problem, meaning that roughly six-in-ten rural Americans (58%) believe access to high speed internet is a problem in their area," the report says. From the report: By contrast, smaller shares of Americans who live in urban areas (13%) or the suburbs (9%) view access to high-speed internet service as a major problem in their area. And a majority of both urban and suburban residents report that this is not an issue in their local community, according to the survey, conducted Feb. 26-March 11. Concerns about access to high-speed internet are shared by rural residents from various economic backgrounds. For example, 20% of rural adults whose household income is less than $30,000 a year say access to high speed internet is a major problem, but so do 23% of rural residents living in households earning $75,000 or more annually. These sentiments are also similar between rural adults who have a bachelor's or advanced degree and those with lower levels of educational attainment. There are, however, some differences by age and by race and ethnicity. Rural adults ages 50 to 64 are more likely than those in other groups to see access to high-speed internet as a problem where they live. Nonwhites who live in a rural area are more likely than their white counterparts to say this is a major problem (31% vs. 21%).
Sure the internet is shit compared to the big cities, but they probably don't have to spend several hours stuck in traffic every day. If there were a perfect place where you could truly have it all, everyone would try to move their and that would probably ruin it. So ask yourself what's really important to you and realize that you might have to give up some other things in pursuit of that.
"You really can't fault the cable/DSL service providers for not investing tons of money expanding their wired networks out to the sticks if the number of additional subscribers they will get will not pay for said network expansion." - Uh yeah, actually we can. It was part of the deal they signed with the government in exchange for exclusive territories. The TelCo's haven't held up their end of the bargain.
"But most rural folks also hate the government so that might not go over well." - Is it any wonder? See above. As with a lot of these kinds of issues, if you dig deep enough you will find that the folks charged with looking out for us (i.e.government) is often to blame. The TelCo's, being the greedy opportunists that they are, are simply taking advantage of the situation. They are banking on little to no enforcement and if push comes to shove, it's nothing that a few campaign contributions won't fix.
42% of rural Americans surveyed have no issue with access to broadband internet, and the number increases to 76% of those surveyed that either consider broadband access a minor or no problem.
Wow.
Back in 2008 a similar number of Americans surveyed had similar feeling about their personal healthcare - then the government stepped in and "fixed things".
Ken