considered common necessities—such as cars, electricity, televisions, microwave ovens, and cell phones. Although rural residents … availability of broadband Internet in rural areas. As a result, rural residents depend more on Internet use outside of the home, in …

analyzes (1) rural broadband use by consumers, the community-at-large, and businesses; (2) rural broadband availability; and (3 …) broadband’s social and economic effects on rural areas. It also summarizes results from an ERS-sponsored workshop on rural … broadband use, and other ERS-commissioned studies. In general, rural communities have less broadband Internet use than metro …