While students at Ohio University have access to high-speed internet, they wouldn’t have to travel far to find homes without adequate internet access.
Just 25 miles away in Vinton County, the public library, in the county seat of McArthur, is some people’s only outlet to access broadband, or high-speed, internet.
“It's pretty much a daily thing,” Diana Johnston, the director of the Herbert Wescoat Memorial Library, said about people coming in to use the library’s public Wi-Fi. “A lot of them do not have internet access at home. I don't think they would be coming in all of the time if they did.”
Johnston had one word for the state of internet access in the rural county: expensive.
“It's available in many areas,” she said. “People can get it, but it's very expensive for them. That's why a lot of people don't have it.”
Stuart Johnson, the executive director of Connect Ohio — a nonprofit organization that advocates affordable and reliable internet for all Ohioans — said while digital divides still exist based on location, affordability has become more of an issue in recent years.
“The definition of what's adequate, affordable and reliable to you could be different to me,” Johnson said. “We used to define the digital divide as those that had broadband and those that did not.”
According to a report by Connect Ohio, internet access in Vinton and Meigs counties — where the median household annual incomes are around $40,000 and $37,000, respectively — costs around $45 per month for a 50 to 99 megabits per second download speed. In Fairfield County, where the median household income is around $60,000, the cost per month for 50 to 99 mbps internet is the same as in Vinton and Meigs counties: $45.
People without broadband in Meigs and Vinton counties are some of the 2.5 million Ohioans without broadband access, according to Connect Ohio. Johnson said people without broadband lack access to some vital opportunities.
“In order for you to get unemployment, you have to go to the OhioMeansJobs website, create an account and post a résumé,” Johnson said. “What if you don't have access? How are you supposed to do that? The doctors tell their patients to schedule online and check their lab results online. Banks ask you to pay online. Vendors ask you to pay online. We gather all this big data and make business decisions based on that information, and the fact is they aren't getting information from a lot of people because they aren't connected.”
Johnson said it’s difficult to get large companies to provide internet to rural counties with fewer people when there are other markets available. Thus, the responsibility of installing equipment and providing better internet access often falls to small companies.
“This is the only community that (smaller companies) serve, and the only way to make more money from that community is to give them more opportunity to consume,” Johnson said, explaining why smaller companies have more incentive to provide internet access in rural areas. “They can invest more easily, and they don't have as many options. Consequently you have (smaller companies) putting fiber into the home in many rural areas.”
Ohio state legislators are trying to coax companies into investing in better rural internet access. According to a news release, Ohio state Senators Joe Schiavoni (D-Boardman) and Cliff Hite (R-Findlay) announced last Wednesday a $50 million per year grant program using funding from the Ohio Third Frontier fund, which was set up to improve the economy by funding startup technology companies.
The program is estimated to increase access to 14,000 Ohio households per year with no additional tax cost.
“The Development Services Agency (DSA) would award grants of up to $5 million to businesses, non-profits, co-ops or political subdivisions to build broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas,” the news release reads. “The grants could not cover more than half of a project’s cost.”
Johnson said the fund would provide extra money business costs and federal grants can’t cover.
“This fund will allow that last dollar,” Johnson said. “The math's not gonna work. The private companies and federal government, by themselves, cannot make it work.”
Johnson encouraged OU students to call their state representatives — Senator Frank Hoagland and Representative Jay Edwards — and encourage them to support the legislation.
Laeeq Khan, an assistant professor of media arts and studies at OU, said healing the digital divide goes beyond just providing access to everyone.
“When we do have access, we have another form of divide,” Khan said. “People do not have the skills to access the kind of information they need.”
Johnson said people who already have access continue to consume more and more media and become more well-versed in technology, feeding into the digital divide.
“It's growing exponentially,” Johnson said. “With the expansion of technology, applications and devices, it's just insatiable. It's growing like crazy.”
