Slow Internet connections holding back rural Georgia

ATLANTA - Internet pathways into rural Georgia are so tenuous that a quarter of a million people lack access to even the most sluggish connections.

Sixty miles southeast of Atlanta, for example, portions of Jasper County see Internet speeds rising above 10 megabits per second – or less than half the 25 megabits considered broadband-level by the Federal Communications Commission but fast enough to stream some video.

That is considered a luxury by most in the county of fewer than 14,000 people. Others in Jasper County are more accustomed to 3 megabit connections — fast enough to consult Google. Many don’t even have that.

“Folks move down there, and think they’re going to have Internet service and good cell service, and they’re so disappointed,” said Rep. Susan Holmes, R-Monticello.

Holmes and other rural Georgia lawmakers, tired of the Internet-age equivalent of tin-can telephones, are hoping to find ways to fill coverage gaps.

In Atlanta, by contrast, residents and businesses anxiously await ultra-high-speed, 1 gigabit service - or levels more than 330 times the connection speed in some of Jasper County.

For rural Georgia, more is at stake than Netflix binges.

Holmes, a former educator, said she is especially concerned about students who may have Internet access at school but don’t have it at home.

“We feel like our students are not getting the opportunities they deserve,” she said. “Our parents are just desperate for better service.”

In Jenkins County, close to Statesboro and home to about 9,000 people, the same concern lingers. Students are issued iPads and Chromebooks but leave them at school because they have no service or limited service at home, said Mandy Underwood, executive director of the county’s development authority.

Jenkins County's students are “being left behind in the fast-speed world because of their geographic location," said Underwood, reading from a statement at a recent legislative committee meeting. “They can’t compete with communities that have access to the world."

The implications extend beyond education and affect a community's healthcare, economic development and quality of life.

Rep. Don Parsons, R-Marietta, chairman of the House Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications Committee, said the widening service gap splits the state into those with Internet connectivity and those without.

“It’s something most of us take for granted in this day and time,” he said at a legislative meeting. “It’s almost like the haves and the have-nots. It’s not money in this case, necessarily, but it’s something that’s extremely important for day-to-day activity.”

Jason Shaw, R-Lakeland, said until now his 1.5-megabit-per-second service at his rural south Georgia home was so slow that he didn’t even use it.

The speed was recently bumped to broadband levels, 25 megabits.

“I’m not a mathematician, but that’s sounds like a big difference to me,” he said.

And it is. Bill Price, an IT strategist with the Georgia Technology Authority, said broadband “represents a substantial increase in capacity" that means the ability to handle data transfers and more video-intensive usage.

It’s that speed and higher that’s required for heavy-duty use, such as hosting a website. As of 2014, nearly 75,000 small businesses in Georgia didn't have that level of access.

Price said connectivity has likely gotten slightly better for those businesses and nearly 640,000 Georgians without broadband access since data were last collected in 2014. But it’s unclear by how much.

“It’s very challenging to provide rural broadband,” he said. “It really comes down to economics.”

Service is costly to provide to spread-out, rural communities.

Meanwhile, demand for faster speeds in large urban areas is intense, offering utilities a greater return on the money spent building out infrastructure in cities.

“This is an unregulated service," he said, "so market economics drives where it goes."

Rural connections are expected to improve in the next six years, as utilities spend $305 million in federal funds to bring connectivity to 134,000 households.

Several lawmakers also want to explore what role the state might play.

Sen. Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, filed legislation this month to prompt the study of “high-speed broadband communications access for all Georgians.”

Parsons' committee, of which Holmes is a member, held a hearing on the matter late last month, although Parsons said this week it’s unclear what, if anything, the Legislature can do.

On Wednesday, rural lawmakers also heard from industry leaders, including leaders of a rural technology authority in southwest Georgia created by the General Assembly in 2007.

The authority went live last year, offering residents speeds up to 10 megabits through wireless service, seen by some to be the solution for rural broadband. Before the authority launched the service, many of its customers were on dial-up.