Making internet access affordable the right way

Maine Compass/CentralMaine.com
Kimberly Lindlof

For many families, highspeed internet helped them to weather the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing students to study from home, their parents to continue to work, and connecting them to doctors, friends, family members and community.

While we know there have been countless stories of success — of people thriving, businesses growing, and new ways of working being discovered — there are unfortunately also millions of Americans who have been without this necessity.

In Maine where 15% of households do not have connection to high-speed internet, there are three causes: access, affordability and adoption.

Access refers to communities that don’t have the ability to interact with the infrastructure that would allow them to connect to high-speed internet. Access issues primarily impacts rural communities.