As far as internet goes, I grew up in a small western Kansas town and remember AOL dial-up from when I was a little kid. I think I was in college (mid nineties) when we got broadband through the local cable TV company.
Broadband now seems better (faster) there than it is here in Boston.
I don't remember having any trouble getting connected on the road, and I regularly stay in small town Super 8 and Best Western motels. They all have broadband, although some only offer plug into the wall ethernet connection, with no wireless.
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Originally Posted by snowy
In terms of cellular service: I have Verizon. It reaches just about everywhere out here. When we went camping with friends for our bachelor/bachelorette trip this summer, our friends were borrowing our phones to make calls, because AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint just don't cover rural Oregon the way Verizon does. Our friend with a Droid on Verizon was still able to look up stuff while we were bullshitting around the campfire.
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Like Snowy says about cellphones, I think it depends a lot on your carrier. When I drove across South Dakota and Montana (on I-90) to Yellowstone last September with my Sig other, he had a lot of no service trouble (AT&T) but my phone (Verizon) worked fine everywhere.
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Originally Posted by snowy
Internet:...I think we could do a much better job of supporting infrastructure to bring broadband to more people, but it's hard to dictate that to companies, y'know--they're going to do what's best for their bottom line.
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Originally Posted by Charlatan
I am always astounded at the state of American broadband.
In Singapore, I almost never get a dropped call, and that includes being on the phone in elevators and subways. I have also visited remote islands and still find I have a signal. People take their connectivity seriously here.
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Part of the problem is the sheer size of the United States. And the sparse population in some areas. So, yeah, kudos to Singapore.
Singapore is about half the size of Rhode Island. I should hope they could get good coverage.
There are COUNTIES in the western US that are several times the size of Singapore, with only a few hundred people.
Lindy
How quickly we come to take things for granted. My grandma talks about how wonderful it was in 1951 when they got electricity on the farm. That meant they could get a pump for the well and have running water and indoor flush toilets. And a radio. And an automatic stoker for the big coal fired furnace.