High speed Internet is a necessity of life. Speeds in Verdi, California are dismal, generally no higher than 6mb/minute download and 1.5 mb/minute upload. Distance learning and working from home are not possible at these speeds, especially when the service is often interrupted. Streaming movies or working with large amounts of data or graphics is really not possible; even reading the news can be a challenge.

AT&T has a fiberoptic line running along Dog Valley Road and could readily tie in the neighborhood.

AT&T DSL users are paying the same rates as other customers with high speeds. I contacted AT&T over a year ago to provide better internet service for my community, but have had no action.  With no other real option (satellite is not reliable apparently - and also slow), we are at their mercy.

According to another rural petitioner, the U.S. department of agriculture is "offering up to $600 million in loans and grants to help build broadband infrastructure in rural America. This was released  December 13, 2018 and nothing has yet  been done to help the rural areas of America gain high-speed internet connections.... Telecommunications companies, rural electric cooperatives and utilities, internet service providers and municipalities may apply for funding through USDA’s new ReConnect Program to connect rural areas that currently have insufficient broadband service. Answering the Administration’s call to action for rural prosperity, Congress appropriated funds in the fiscal year 2018 budget for this broadband pilot program. USDA Rural Development is the primary agency delivering the program, with assistance from other federal partners."

    We need high-speed, reliable broadband e-Connectivity to allow connection to and participation in daily activities.