According to Peter Voderberg, Chief of Broadband Ohio (an initiative of the Dewine administration), nearly one million Ohioans do not have access to high speed internet. What follows is a very useful and easy to understand article about the broadband issue / digital divide in America. How the US' massive failure to close digital divide got exposed by coronavirus. While not a flattering article for either political party (the problem has been with us for over a decade), the piece explains the hurdles associated with the digital divide and why so many of our families struggled with online remote learning. Barriers and issues surrounding the divide include adequate broadband not available to residents, broadband is available but not affordable, existing copper telecommunications infrastructure cannot support high speed broadband, low population densities often found in rural areas do not present a profit making opportunity for providers, data and fraud - just to name a few.
Also included in this post is a Facebook Live link to a Rural Broadband Town Hall sponsored by the Perry County Think Tank on Poverty.