By Glenn Rolfe

When it comes to internet service there are haves and have nots.

Accessibility and affordability are prime players in the equation, which the state of Delaware hopes to put on a level playing field through a $110 million initiative aimed to close the digital divide.

Launched recently, it’s a three-year initiative geared to bring wired internet to every home and business in Delaware.

Boosted by $56 million in broadband grants through American Rescue Plan Act funding, fiber is being extended by licensed service providers Comcast, Verizon and Mediacom to current underserved areas, isolated pockets that Delaware’s Department of Technology Information coin “deserts.”

More than 11,600 homes/businesses are identified as underserved by the state, according to Delaware Department of Technology/Information CIO Jason Clarke. The bulk of underserved/unserved broadband areas are in western and central Sussex County and southwestern Kent County.

“You actually find there are pockets in Sussex County that don’t have internet and don’t have very good cell service,” said D. Patches Hill, Seaford School District’s Supervisor of Technology. “Houses between Laurel and Gumboro, they don’t have cell service or internet.”

Internet connectivity improved about a year ago for Kirk Lawson and family at their rural Doddtown Road home in Harbeson.

“I have Comcast now, but it was a struggle before that. Cell service is still an issue,” said Mr. Lawson.

In fact, a photo taken by State Sen. Brian Pettyjohn of Mr. Lawson’s son Robbie on his laptop doing schoolwork from the Lawson family driveway made its way to Gov. John Carney.

“This is what sparked the broadband initiative in earnest,” said Mr. Lawson. “Brian pushed hard to open up market to help rural Sussex County.”

Helping people connect to in the 21st century is a focus of First State Community Action Agency, a now statewide agency launched in 1965 in Sussex County that offers a diverse array of programs that target the root causes of poverty.

“Even in 2022, some families don’t have the access to the internet. They can’t afford it. Other families are in rural pockets that have internet connectivity issues,” said Bruce Smith, FSCCA’s Community Development Director. “Comcast just isn’t there. Other providers aren’t there. They obviously can’t afford satellite access because that’s really expensive.”

He notes that in today’s world internet is the norm, not the exception.

“For an agency like ours, it is access to services,” said Mr. Smith. “Every organization we work with, and we are guilty of it too, we make things more streamlined and efficient by having people have the option to access services online. That’s not the only way they can access it, but it’s certainly helps to expedite things. Access to internet is not the luxury that it was 20 years ago where you’re looking up stuff and recipes when you’re in the kitchen. It’s a way of doing business and surviving.”

COVID-19’s pandemic arrival in 2020 that forced closure of schools and ushered in virtual learning from home magnified the importance of internet service.

To accommodate need, cellular hotspots were made available statewide to students under a MiFi program through DTI.

As of mid-April, more than 25,700 students were utilizing a MiFi device, or in some instances a wired connection that was covered by the state if there was an affordability issue, Mr. Clarke stated during an April 12 webinar.

MiFi will remain a temporary fix.

“Jason Clarke’s program, DTI is doing that until the wiring can be completed. The intent was it was a one-time, one-year COVID reaction, but then they realized it was going to take two to three years. We have offered any families that needed it in Seaford the ability to have connectivity to the home through a cellular hotspot,” said Mr. Hill, whose vast background in technology includes work in the Indian River School District and Delaware Department of Education.

“So, closing the gap for the digital divide is really going to be done through this program that Gov. Carney and CIO Clarke have supported and pushed. They are putting millions of dollars into it,” Mr. Hill said.

While at the state, Mr. Hill worked with DTI on Connect Delaware, a program designed to support student success by providing free broadband services for low-income students in districts and charter schools.

“We actually took over managing the MiFi hotspots that they are paying for for the next couple of years, as the interim for those families,” said Mr. Hill. “The state actually has given the MiFi hotspots out to families in those underserved areas and for those that had a financial need, so that they would continue to have connectivity until the broadband pieces could be sewn up.”

“So, if you are a student in Delaware and you needed a MiFi hotspot there was access to one through the local school district,” said Mr. Hill.

Getting connected to wired internet free under the broadband grant program is one thing. Paying the bill once connected is another.

“I don’t think it is just because they don’t want it, I think it’s affordability. It has never been they don’t want it, it’s the affordability,” said FSCAA Executive Director Bernice Edwards.

“There are about 115,000 people that live in Delaware that are at or below the poverty line,” said Mr. Smith. “That doesn’t mean that all will need, want, desire, can’t afford, don’t live in a situation where they have access to the internet. But as an agency we know that there are that many people out who qualify for our services and don’t have a lot of money to spend.”

“With our clients there are some barriers trying to get online. We have worked with Comcast. They are doing things to try to get out people hooked up,” said Ms. Edwards. “And in the clientele of the people that we are working with, it’s not only access it’s learning how to use it.”

Ms. Edwards said First State is looking into financial assistance for internet, possibly with additional CARES Act money to see “how can we support that family – for a given time? But that won’t last forever. We really have to work with the families. How can we sustain that?”

Mr. Hill said there is assistance available to those who meet eligibility. He noted one program is Comcast Internet Essentials, which targets those in low income brackets.

“It’s not only connectivity it’s affordable connectivity,” said Mr. Hill.

Wireless alternatives to the home, Mr. Hill said, simply weren’t the answer.

“Some of them could afford it. But a lot of them couldn’t. MiFi is okay because it can be affordable. But wireless to the home, the local providers really couldn’t get it to a price-point,” said Mr. Hill. “Ultimately, we’ve got major pockets of families that don’t have connectivity still, and that has proven to be an issue, which is why, without those Mi-Fi hotspots …”

The state’s informational website — broadband.delaware.gov — offers several features, including the GIS Broadband Hub, a map tool which allows someone to see if their address is on the state’s list for connection, and if not the option to add the address to that list.

A key element is ensuring families in underserved areas are aware of this state-covered, broadband connection program.

“I think the number one issue we are up against is we’ve really got to get out the map and get the updates to the map done,” Mr. Hill said. “This program has been announced for quite a few months and I think there are still people that aren’t aware of the program. If they don’t get their address on that list, they still are not going to get internet to their home. All they have got to do is put their name on the list and supposedly they are going to be able solve these problems. The key is for people to get their name on that list, so they can actually make sure going forward that they get that wired internet to their home.”