The lack of adequate Internet service can affect rural populations by keeping them from fully participating in twenty-first century healthcare, education, and business opportunities.

According to U.S. Census data, 17.3% of Americans have no access to broadband services1 which are defined by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as 25 Mbit/s download and 3 Mbit/s upload. Some estimate that over 20% of U.S. households lack any home Internet access at all. Further, there appears to be a correlation between lack of adequate Internet services and rural locales reporting economic stagnation and higher poverty levels.

This case study profiles how one rural community in Oregon closed this digital divide. By leveraging a fiber backbone facilitated in part by the incumbent electrical service cooperative, residents of Douglas County launched Douglas Fast Net (DFN), based in Roseburg, Oregon, in 2000. DFN became one of the first Internet service providers (ISPs) in the state to offer symmetrical 1-Gbit/s Internet service.