After the university sent students home because of the coronavirus pandemic, Ms. Lee grew frustrated with what she said is expensive and data-restricted internet service in Sanders, an unincorporated village of fewer than 1,000 people in eastern Arizona. Like Ms. Lee, many other Americans sheltering from Covid-19 are discovering the limitations of the country’s cobbled-together broadband service. Those rifts are poised to turn into chasms, as the global pandemic threatens another year of in-person schooling for American children. Additional districts that are going online only at the start of the year include Nashville, Houston and Atlanta. An adequate connection is no longer a matter of convenience; it is a necessity for anyone wishing to participate in civil society.

Source: New York Times July 18, 2020 18:45 UTC