Matt, what is on the horizon for better internet access in rural and underserved areas and who will pay for it?

I read 40% of school kids are getting school over the internet. I don't have much of a feel for the current number of people working from home. The number must be pretty high.

Kids will most likely all go back to brick and mortar schools at some point. Cost to home school and babysitting is very high. They will still need access to the internet.

A certain percentage of people working from home will never go back to an office after Covid-19 even if the pandemic is well controlled by vaccine. The recent vaccine news is pretty positive which gives some hope for the future. No matter what happens, we are a long away from controlling the pandemic.

Money is not necessarily the controlling issue for access to internet to at least middle class neighborhoods. It took five years after the subdivision I live in was built before I had access to cable internet and seven years before AT&T fiber. This is a middle class neighborhood in a major city.

I also own a house in a high end neighborhood with no cable or fiber. That property could be considered semi rural I guess. I have internet there but it is Satellite Internet plus the cell phone connection, both of which are pretty unreliable.

This is what the satellite people say "HughesNet Gen5 is fast with 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps Upload speeds, and is available to anyone, anywhere, coast-to-coast. It’s also available in Alaska and Puerto Rico." I guess it is better than nothing...

If we are going to send kids to school over the internet we need to provide that connection no matter what the cost or who has to pay for it. It is my belief that education will be the greatest factor to continued prosperity in the United States.

Billy

“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”