Internet solutions still needed across Iowa

Dawn Conklin has lived with her family on 10 acres for more than 10 years. They're not in a city but they are certainly not isolated, either.

'It's 10 minutes to Blairs Ferry Road so it's not that far,” said Conklin, a wife and mother of two young children. 'You can hear the Interstate (380) from where we are.”

Yet Conklin said her internet solutions are costly and not terribly fast. She said she pays $100 a month for 10 GB of usage and, after that, the price can add up. On top of this, Conklin said broadband cards do not last very long.

'They overheat and you have to shut them down,” said Conklin.

The concern over this also is much more than just watching movies or television shows on demand. More and more school districts offer students devices to enhance their learning.

To combat this, Conklin said the smartphones she and her husband have are a decent temporary solution but not for the long term.

It's an issue that resonates in many parts of rural Iowa.

On the northern edge of the state is the Howard-Winneshiek Community School District, based in Cresco. Superintendent John Carver said Howard-Winn covers students in a very large and very rural geographical area.

Carver said his district provides technology for students in K-12. Yet, Carver says, when they leave Cresco, the internet speed and capacity can vary sharply. He also is with Connect Every Iowan, an initiative launched by Gov. Terry Branstad's office, to 'increase the access, adoption, and use of broadband technology”.

He cites an example from this winter.

'We had 10 snow days,” said Carver. 'If we had broadband access deployment through the school district, we could have had virtual school days but that's not the case.

This comes after a partisan battle in Des Moines over a broadband access bill. The House voted 51-44 against a 'broadband expansion bill.”

The legislation would have created a series of tax breaks for companies to extend broadband to areas of Iowa that are unserved or underserved.

Included in the bill would have been income tax credits, up to $315,000, for upgrading connections in these areas.

Branstad said, in a statement, 'Iowa House Democrats have turned their backs on rural Iowans and those who are underserved.”

Democratic State Senator and Branstad's like opponent in November, Jack Hatch, said the governor's proposal was very timid and he was very quiet in the debates.

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