If you live in a big city, not to worry, you probably have not only broadband access, but perhaps even a second provider; however, if you live in the rural parts of this country, you are not so lucky. According to the FCC, "approximately 19 million Americans 'in areas still unserved by terrestrial-fixed broadband' and concludes that for that, and 'other reasons,' it must conclude 'that broadband is not yet being deployed to all Americans' in a reasonable and timely fashion.'" In addition, of those areas getting broadband, over a quarter are not getting the speeds of 100 Mbps or more today.
For the cable operator, the argument is that their rollout has been moving along at a fast pace, the FCC believes that accessibility and speed goals have not been reached. Broadband, it seems, has been treated like a necessity, equivalent to food, shelter, and clothing. It has joined the ranks of telephone and cable TV accessibility. In the private enterprise, the cost to string a city, with many homes passed per mile verse rural america where you may be lucky to pass 1 home every 10 miles, demonstrates the challenge of rolling out broadband service, cost-effectively, to a widely dispersed geographical base. As broadband gets perceived as necessity, and not luxury, the demand to speed that rollout simply grows in the public government's opinion. As noted in the article, "cable operators and others have made [a major impact] toward deployment and adoption, including 'billions invested by the communications industry in broadband deployment, including next-generation wired and wireless services'". Unfortunately, today, our patience seems to be wearing thin.
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