Connected Nation has a new report on Internet Insecurity in Rural America. I like the distinction between access and secure access. The best analogy I can think it the difference between having a reliable car or a junker. Most of us know the difference, many of us from experience. A reliable car gets you to work on time. Gets your kids to school. Is what you are happy to take a 3am when contractions start coming. A junker is a car that may cost you a lot of money in repairs or gas mileage. It is always a car you aren’t sure is going to get you where you are going and honestly you don’t want your kids to drive it at night.

Connected Nation recognizes…

Connected Nation (CN) believes in the importance of sustained, reliable internet connectivity for every household. In this report, CN looks at “internet insecure” households whose internet adoption has been in flux. What we found underscores a need to address the issue of internet insecurity: not only do Americans need to get connected, but to benefit from broadband, they must STAY connected.

They surveyed 2,600 rural households in Michigan and Colorado to learn about the impact of Internet insecurity. If they had been in Minnesota, I’d dig deeper into the specifics, although I imagine they are similar, but here I’ll keep it high level…

KEY FINDINGS:

• Roughly one-third (30.6%) of the surveyed population is internet insecure.

• Households with children are more likely to experience intermittent internet connectivity, with one-third (34.2%) of households with children under 18 living at home being internet insecure.

• People with disabilities are more likely to experience internet insecurity than people without disabilities.

• Nearly 9 out of 10 (87.1%) internet insecure respondents say they rely on locations outside of their home to access the internet.

• Despite irregular access to the internet, most of the internet insecure population (93.3%) still uses telehealth services.