Wireless providers face challenges in bringing service to rural communities such as Caroline County in Virginia – including both economic and geographic factors. According to the FCC, 39 percent of rural communities, approximately 23 million people, lack broadband access, compared with only four percent of urban Americans, reported Fredericksburg.com.
In an uncommon joint venture, cable and wireless companies are working together to figure out how to bring wireless service to Virginia’s rural Caroline County. Virginia Broadband and MetroCast are collaborating and discouraging localities from setting up their own broadband authorities, risking high overhead and logistical snags, especially when bringing service to just a few homes in a rural area. Danny Jobe, vice president of system operations for MetroCast, says to provide wireless service to roughly five rural homes costs $30,000 per mile. MetroCast already invested $58 million dollars in the Northern Neck region, bringing in wireless infrastructure. In this case, Mother Nature also factors in; along the shoreline in Northern Neck, tides and wind can whip up waves, interfering with wireless towers.
Northern Neck is also considering applying for a loan or grant through the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service. “A lot of other rural areas are looking at this and it’s something we need to look at,” Jerry Davis, executive director of the Northern Neck Planning District Commission told Fredericksburg.com. He has spent years trying to bring high-speed internet to the Northern Neck and will conduct a feasibility study as a next step.
For now, public libraries are some of the only places residents can go to access high-speed internet. According to Northern Neck Library Director Alice Cooper, “There’s really no other [public] WiFi access in the county other than the public library. People are in our parking lot all the time using it.”
Other libraries in the area are offering 24/7 internet access as well, considering over half of the county does not have access to a high-speed connection. This challenge affects not only Caroline County but extends into central Virginia as well.
May 5, 2017
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