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Disconnected
Electricity transformed rural America nearly a century ago. Now, millions of people on farms and in small towns desperately need broadband.
The true scope of the broadband access problem is unknown because federal data is widely known to underestimate coverage gaps.
Rick Barrett, Kelli Arseneau and Christopher Miller, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Published
2:10 pm UTC Jun. 3, 2021
Athens, Wis.
- As the last hour of daylight fades, Kat Becker parks across the street from the Peterson/Kraemer funeral home.
Becker shuts off the engine of her powder blue Toyota Prius and reaches for her laptop computer. Her two children, Maple and Ted, peer over her shoulder from the back seat.
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Back in November the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted unanimously to divide a Wi-Fi spectrum originally reserved for auto safety technology, splitting the band to provide greater bandwidth for other onboard connected services, including web connections for wireless devices. Now, two groups have challenged that decision.
According to a report from
Reuters, the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, as well as the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, filed a legal challenge to the U.S. Count of Appeals for the District of Columbia opposing the FCC’s November ruling.
Back in 1999, the 5.9 GHz spectrum block was reserved for automakers to develop new tech for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) crash avoidance systems. So far, automakers have largely failed to utilize the spectrum.