I like to distinguish between "little broadband" (i.e. DSL and cable modem) and "big broadband." What's the difference? "Little broadband" is typically able to consistently deliver only a few megabits per second down. In Blacksburg, as one example, DSL download speed is advertised as 1 megabit. The cable company here sells 20 meg and 30 meg packages, which work pretty well if there are not too many of your neighbors online at the same time. Performance degrades noticeably after 3 PM, when schools let out and kids come home and hit the computer, their tablets, and their smartphones. And don't try to work at home on a snow day. Little broadband also has constricted upload speeds, which makes working from home very difficult, as videoconferencing may not work when there is neighborhood network congestion, and the asymmetric bandwidth makes moving large files back and forth between home and the office very difficult if not impossible.
"Big broadband" is a minimum 100 megabit symmetric pipe, and the networks that Design Nine builds all start on day one with Gigabit pipes to every home and business. The only thing we design and build is Gigabit networks.
So what about rural broadband. The Daily Yonder has a great article on the sad state of broadband connectivity in rural areas, which still lags behind the rest of the country. The graphs show the disparity clearly, but rural areas still lag far behind more populous parts of the country. The good news is that it is possible to build Gigabit networks in rural areas and make them financially sustainable...we know, because we're doing it. Give us a call or drop us a note if you want to make your area a Gigabit community.