Broadband Access Solutions for Education and Remote Work

Helen’s Place LLC Update July 17, 2022

On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to provide 65 billion dollars in funding for broadband access to Americans without it, especially in rural areas.

The New York Times called it a civil rights issue during the pandemic, severely limiting work from home and online school opportunities.

Since the Covid-19 Pandemic is far from over in 2022, getting the broadband infrastructure in place is still critically important.

Those without broadband internet service should continue to explore satellite service offerings until utility provided services are available. Since this article was originally published, “Exede” is now “Viasat,” and DishNet is my.dish.com. HughesNet is also still available.

Workers and students now have more options to work from home using the internet.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, an increasing number of legitimate companies are advertising online jobs on various job boards like Flexjobs.com, and womenforhire.com.

Online jobs for people in rural areas make sense, especially when low employment opportunities exist, and moving is not an option.

Broadband internet access can be obtained through cable, DSL or satellite service providers. The Federal Trade Commission is working with phone companies on the problem of increasing broadband internet access in areas of the country with insufficient or no access.

Some people advocate that if DSL access through phone lines, or cable service is not available, satellite service providers like HughesNet, Exede or DishNET Internet Services, could fill the gap in providing service in rural areas.

Many companies provide basic computer and internet job training, computer equipment, and broadband internet access, for their online workers.

It’s important that people interested in working from home via the internet, carefully screen companies offering online jobs for possible scams and complaints.

Legitimate companies are listed on the internet and in phone directories that you can look-up and verify.

Before responding to any add or job posting, do a Google search for the company, and go to the company website and check to ensure that the name of the company is listed with its address and phone number(s).

Verify that the company has a business license, address, and phone number by checking websites i.e. bbb.org, bizapedia.com, and whitepages.com.

Remember that just because a company checks out, that doesn’t mean it’s offering a job you would want to do at a salary you would accept.

As a general rule, beware of the pie in the sky salary, do not disclose personal information like your social security number, bank information, or address, and set-up an account with PayPal or other pay service to have payment for your completed work deposited there.