[neallindsay]

There are definitely rural areas that have excellent internet service available. I grew up in a small town that happened to be a test market for Time Warner cable internet (RoadRunner) when it came out in the 1990s.

However, there's rural and there's rural. Some people live places where the cable company would have to run miles of copper just to service a single house. If you're living so far out and also poor, you probably can't afford to tether to your cell phone either.

[protomyth]

I think more states need to push the electric companies into getting into to internet. Rural electric cooperatives seem to love laying fiber.