Stories

The COVID-19 crisis, with its quarantines, lockdowns, and sheltering in place, has led to a dramatic redefinition of the word “home.” For many of us, what was once a sacred base to relax from work, study, and travel has become, thanks to the pandemic, a full-time living, office, and leisure center rolled into one. The revisioning of our living space prompted by the pandemic has dovetailed with a series of internet-powered innovations that, together, create what is known as the smart home.

Labor Day is fast approaching: a time to reflect on the contributions made by generations of workers throughout our nation’s history. This year, we want to shine a light on the employees who kept the nation’s broadband infrastructure up and running throughout the COVID crisis. 

Variations in weather often threaten our physical infrastructure and create spikes in use that stress our wireless networks. But broadband providers try their hardest to hurricane-proof the network by leveraging business continuity plans and disaster recovery teams. Working around the clock, these teams monitor and assess threats, establish emergency notification systems, train response personnel, and set up online tools to keep people connected.

The current pandemic has been a once-in-a-century health crisis, upending lives and livelihoods worldwide. With the need for safe access to healthcare during the crisis came a renewed focus on an emerging phenomenon: telehealth, or the use of the internet to provide quality care at a distance. 

Twenty years ago, the idea that videoconferencing, streaming-on-demand, and mobile phones would become such an integral part of our lives would have been hard to imagine. Today, an internet connection is essential for education, work, communication, and entertainment in ways previous generations would have found hard to imagine. 

Life on a farm conjures up idyllic images of communing with nature, working the land, and getting back to what’s essential. Increasingly, however, a successful farm is dependent on another factor: highspeed internet.

While Enosburg is blessed with natural beauty and proximity to state forests, watersports, and ski facilities, residents face a challenge that has held them back from accessing high-paying jobs and other opportunities: lack of high-speed internet. Fortunately, that all changed before the world began to shut down, and it changed the life of at least one Enosburg Falls resident—and his family.

With each passing year, broadband is getting faster, cheaper, and more widely available. Although we still have a way to go to ensure that every American has access to broadband, it is worth taking a moment to look at how far we’ve come.