Web Work May Not Be As Portable As You Think

Ah, the life of the web worker. All you need is your laptop and a change of clothing, and you could drive or fly most anywhere on a moment’s notice, plug in, and be on the job. We’re the digital bedouins, the wave of the future, the happily rootless high-tech wanderers.

Well, not so fast – at least, not if your idea of “most anywhere” includes the rural parts of the United States of America. If your memory extends far enough, you may recall that the 1996 Telecommunications Act and the 2002 farm bill allocated a batch of money to bring broadband to rural areas in the US. Congress has been holding hearings on this, and the results have been fairly dismal. The US still trails many other countries in broadband penetration, and it’s not making substantial progress.

Meanwhile, rural internet users are increasingly getting caught in political struggles between big telecommunications companies who want to sell off less-profitable operations and unions who profess to stand for “high speed internet for all” but who undoubtedly have a stake in preserving their own jobs as well. On the ground, this translates to a state of technological stagnation: in some areas you might find DSL service, or cable modems, or even the occasional high-speed wireless carrier, but it’s just as likely that the folks in the heartland are still on dial-up.

If you’re a big fan of city living, then you may not feel a personal stake in rural high-speed internet. But I personally still dream of the rootless life of traveling around and seeing large chunks of this country. It would be nice if the telecommunications infrastructure would catch up with that dream.

loading

Comments have been disabled for this post