Category: Digital Inequality

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Broadband access Broadband funding Broadband Technology Digital Inequality

Top 10 Broadband Stories of 2020

2020 Top 10 Broadband Topics

Drew Clark – Telecom Attorney, The CommLaw Group. Editor and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast

Broadband Breakfast has provided continuous text and video content in 2020 on the topic of broadband in America.

As we approach the end of the year, it is good to revisit broadband stories of 2020.

Drew’s ‘top 10’ Broadband Topics

10 – The fall of China, ZTE and Huawei broadband manufacturers

9 – Spectrum sharing, new technologies are enabling radio frequencies to be used in new and more innovative ways

8 – Open access networks, new fiber networks

7 – Traditional telephone network future

6 – Broadband is infrastructure that needs valid maps

5 – Reverse-auctions and rural broadband / RDOF – Rural Digital Opportunity Fund

4 – Big tech lawsuits, consumer & innovation balance

3 – COVID Teleworking / Working and Learning

2 – Digital Inequality

1 – Federal Government & infrastructure investments

In Western North Carolina, state and federal broadband topics will continue to drive how and when broadband improvements will be made.

Please contact a member of our WNC Broadband Project Team with any questions you may have.

Clark, D. (2020, December 30). Drew Clark: The Top 10 Broadband Stories of 2020, and What They Mean for 2021. Broadbandbreakfast.com. http://broadbandbreakfast.com/2020/12/drew-clark-the-top-10-broadband-stories-of-2020-and-what-they-mean-for-2021/

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Advocacy Broadband access Broadband in WNC Digital Divide Digital Inclusion Digital Inequality Economic Development Education

Homework Gap

Connected digitally

Now a Learning Gap In Rural America

I am already shocked. As a father of two digitally-connected children, I know first hand of the significant value of having broadband available. The digital value is having computers available, the knowledge of how to apply computers, with broadband being available on demand, to engage with society for knowledge, communication, health, and more.

Additionally, having volunteered at several area schools and community centers, I see the digital divide. If students don’t have broadband available at home, immediately the student is disconnected from our digital world of learning opportunities.

The pandemic has made getting computers and internet connections to households with school-age children a priority. The “homework gap” is sizable. Before the pandemic, some 16.9 million children under the age of 18 lived in households without wireline internet service and 7.3 million live in homes without a desktop, laptop, or tablet computer. What was a homework gap is now a learning gap.

John B. Horrigan

Digital Tools & Learning. (2020, December 10). Benton Foundation. https://www.benton.org/blog/digital-tools-learning

Also See

the ‘Homework Gap’ Video Will Shock You

The author of this article, Marc Czarnecki; helps to minimize the rural divide in America by supporting the WNC Broadband Project.

The WNC Broadband Team advocates for the necessary broadband improvements for our #digitallives.

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Broadband in WNC Digital Inequality Policy

No Internet

WNC Internet

Many in NC Can’t Adequately Learn, Get Healthcare

Locked out: Without internet, tens of thousands of North Carolinians can’t adequately learn, get health care

Nearly a third of all North Carolina households lack high-speed internet, essentially cutting them off from crucial education and health care services; most of these areas are rural and often in communities of color.

Report by the Andrea Harris Social, Economic, Environmental, and Health Equity Task Force

Sorg, Lisa. “Locked out: Without Internet, Tens of Thousands of North Carolinians Can’t Adequately Learn, Get Health Care.” NC Policy Watch, 7 Dec. 2020, www.ncpolicywatch.com/2020/12/07/locked-out-without-internet-tens-of-thousands-of-north-carolinians-cant-adequately-learn-get-health-care/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.