5G Represents Major Necessary Rural Connectivity Improvement

Wholesale improvement may finally be on the way for rural high-speed internet connectivity with the deployment of 5G around the country, and it comes at a critical time. A recent survey shows 78% of rural residents don’t have options when it comes to potentially changing service providers, yet only 32% of farmers say they have reliable internet service at their farm offices. But the latest network service type — 5G — could see more farmers get better connections at a time when such connectivity is becoming almost a necessity for a lot of new farm machinery and equipment. 5G features speeds up to 20 times faster than 4G LTE, but it will require a lot of infrastructure updates. So far, Congress has allocated around $34 billion to do that job and improve broadband access nationwide, including much of the underserved rural portions of the country. Reliable high-speed internet connectivity may finally be on its way to Rural America. See more.