In rural Oklahoma, a Wi-Fi hot spot brings a dash of hope and excitement

The parking lot of Free Pentecostal Holiness Church in the historic town of Tatums (OK) is a little busier these days. The grassy areas on either side of the small, white building now serve as the town's main Wi-Fi hot spot. People in cars parked outside the church's doors can access broadband internet, which isn't common or cheap in the town of about 160. "Internet in rural areas is a rip-off, and I know this because I pay $98 a month for slow, supposedly high-speed internet," said Liz Jenkins-Austin, a volunteer for the Oklahoma Missionary Baptist State Convention, who helped set up the hot spot. "And so, mostly people at the poverty level here, most of those parents can't afford internet service." At high schools and libraries, in parking lots and side streets, Americans are tapping public Wi-Fi hot spots that are now serving as lifelines during the coronavirus pandemic.