- I've been trying to get internet at my house
since I moved here.
It's been years and years,
and I have used all the resources I can.
- And we've wasted billions of dollars,
and we've wasted time.
- The pandemic has really shown that broadband
is just like electricity and just like water,
you really need it these days to survive.
- [Narrator] As the school year begins,
COVID-19 has again highlighted a digital divide.
Millions of Americans in rural areas nationwide
are struggling to connect to the internet.
So why is the country's broadband infrastructure
still not reliably connecting rural communities?
The recent bankruptcy
of one of the largest rural internet providers,
Frontier Communications, helps reveal why.
It's unclear exactly how many people in America
lack a high-speed internet connection.
The official estimate
from the Federal Communications Commission
is 21 million people.
But others estimate it to be double that.
A recent study by Microsoft says,
if you include people who have a connection
that's slow or unreliable,
the figure is more like 157 million people,
or roughly half the U.S. population.
Eva Melanson and her husband and three kids,
have tried all they can to get internet access
in Sissonville West Virginia.
Though Frontier is one of the only providers in the area,
it's not even an option for their house.
- We had WildBlue satellite.
We had HughesNet satellite.
Then we gave up on satellite,
because if it rained or snowed, it didn't work.
We switched to the cell phone booster.
And we've tried to get regular internet at the house,
Suddenlink or Frontier, they won't come up to our house.
- [Narrator] Most days,
Eva drives three miles from her house
to this mobile home that her sister-in-law Sarah rents
that gets faster internet from Suddenlink,
another West Virginia provider.
Sarah's house gets Frontier, but it's too slow,
and just up the hill,
Eva's house gets neither Frontier nor Suddenlink.
The state is a patchwork
of complicated, unreliable options like these.
- I've been coming since we all got sent home for COVID
and the schools got shut down, it was the end of March.
So we've been coming here since then.
To take advantage of what internet we can get here.
- [Narrator] On top of her full time job,
Eva is helping teach her kids and neighbors' kids,
as they start the school year with online classes.
While broadband internet has improved
for many across the country,
for people like Eva's family and neighbors,
makeshift options like this mobile home
have become the best solution.
Many experts, including former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler,
say one problem is that the federal government
doesn't treat broadband like a public utility.
Instead, it's largely relied on the internet industry
to regulate itself, and provide service in select areas
at a range of prices.
- Dating back before the internet even existed,
the FCC has had a program where it collects money
from telephone users' bills, and rededicates that money
to make sure that rural areas are served.
This is very similar to how the US
extended electricity to rural areas.
The FCC has taken that money in the modern age
and repurposed it to try to extend broadband
to communities across the country.
They've thrown a lotta money at this problem,
there are a lot of parts of this country
that still aren't getting help.
- [Narrator] Frontier might not be a household name
like AT&T or Comcast,
but it's one of the largest internet providers
in the country.
And in rural areas in Minnesota, or in West Virginia,
like where Eva's family lives,
they can be one of the only internet options.
Five years ago,
Frontier was awarded over a billion dollars
from the federal Communications Commission,
to expand their networks in rural areas.
Earlier this year, the company told the FCC
it was not meeting its target requirements
in numerous States.
Then, back in April
at the start of the Coronavirus Pandemic,
Frontier filed for bankruptcy.
- What was interesting about that bankruptcy is,
they had to disclose a lot of information
that we don't usually get.
- [Narrator] Frontier's bankruptcy documents
offer a window into why rural parts of the US,
and particularly states like West Virginia,
lag behind much of the developed world
in providing reliable internet.
SEC filings Frontier provided to bond holders,
showed the company chronically under-invested
in faster broadband infrastructure like fiber optics.
Only 21% of Frontier service area is served by fiber.
After more than a decade of promised upgrades.
In a statement, Frontier said,
"The available speed depends on multiple variables,
"including, especially in rural areas,
"the distance that the customer's location is
"from our internet equipment."
The documents also reveal why
they weren't required to invest in upgrades.
Across the country. More than one and a half million homes
have only one choice for internet access, Frontier.
For another 11.3 million homes,
there are only two options for high speed internet service.
The company describes this as a strong competitive position.
Frontier says the company
"Offers service in many of the most
"rural areas of the country.
"Places that our competitors largely choose not to serve,
"because these rural areas often have challenging terrain,
"are more sparsely populated,
"and are the most expensive to serve."
- Whether you're Frontier or whether you're Verizon,
why would you be putting money into West Virginia
when every dollar you put into West Virginia
is gonna return a lot less
than dollars that you put into Pittsburgh,
or put into a major urban area?
- [Narrator] Eva's sister-in-law Sarah works from home,
and started renting the mobile home for $600 a month
after struggling for years with slow internet speeds
from Frontier at her house.
- This is the Frontier internet
and we're gonna do a speed test.
- [Narrator] It's the only option she has at home,
and she still pays $130
for both phone and internet services,
despite her efforts to find an alternative.
- I've filed FCC complaints,
I've contacted the governor's office,
I've called people, I've signed petitions,
I've done everything that there has been
to do something about improving it,
I've participated in, because I depend on the internet.
- [Narrator] The FCC chairman, Ajit Pai,
says that his number one priority
has been closing the digital divide.
- There's still many millions of Americans
who don't have access at all,
or have insufficient competition.
We want to change that to make sure that every American
has what I call digital opportunity.
- [Narrator] The agency has handed out billions of dollars
in funding and subsidies to improve rural broadband access.
With another 16 billion slated to be auctioned in October.
- The data that the US has about broadband networks
isn't really great.
And the government doesn't have a good idea
of where broadband is, and where it isn't.
So, if a rural carrier builds broadband
across a certain county,
it can get credit for serving that entire area
when in fact it only serves parts of the area.
And this ends up serving some homes
while leaving others behind.
- [Narrator] The FCC says it's fixing the maps.
But Chairman Pai says the funding can't wait.
- We see states that are still making policy
based on what the cable and telephone companies,
the big cable and telephone companies tell them.
But we electrified the country by recognizing
that those business models did not work for all of America.
And West Virginia is one of those places
where those models really don't work.
- The kids go to school online,
and there're so many different things
you can experience online
that they don't have the ability to do right now.
And it's a shame.
I am very lucky that I can rent this place.
But that's not a common occurrence.
And I don't think that you should be forced to do that
when you have a perfectly good home,
why can't we get broadband?
(solemn ambient music)