USDA’s Rural broadband plan met with citizen criticism and concerns

Slow speeds, bad coverage and expensive service. These are just some of the concerns contained in nearly 300 public comments on Rural Broadband Pilot Program proposed by the US Department of Agriculture. The proposal follows a promise to farmers by President Donald Trump in January 2017 to deliver a faster, more reliable internet to rural areas. The President followed the promise with an executive order to spur a broadband expansion in regions of the US where connectivity is spotty at best. But little has been done since. The public comments that began in July contain at least 3,600 references to criticism of the standards, including that speeds would not be fast enough and that the USDA proposal focused on speed and not bandwidth.