With the continuous advancements in technology, having high-speed internet access is crucial for every aspect of our lives. It affects the way we work, obtain information, communicate, conduct businesses, and even educate our children.
It is one thing to have an internet connection; it’s even better when you have access at a better speed. Anyone using the internet will agree that the connection speed you have dictates what you can do, how long it takes, and how frustrated you can become.
Slow internet connection means music downloads and photo sharing taking up to minutes, streaming videos with constant buggering, and online games with serious lagging at critical moments, and a lot more.
The internet is already an essential part of the 21st-century infrastructure. However, the internet speed exposed some inequalities between the urban and rural areas.
What we don’t talk enough about is how this puts our rural communities even further behind their urban counterparts. High speed is now a race and lack of this essential service results in loss of opportunities and diminished wellbeing.
Areas like Shenandoah Valley, housing about 44,000 people may not be able to get these advantages in full potential until the challenges of high-speed internet access are solved.
High-speed internet touches every sector of the community, including:
- Education
- Health care
- Commerce
- Humanitarian response
Internet connections and speed issue is a drawback in the educational sector. Students often struggle to keep up with their teachers, classmate, and get online homework help, or even do independent research without fast internet connection in their homes.
Some even prefer to stay in school as long as possible, since that’s the only place where they get access to fast internet. The vitality of internet access to modern education can’t be overstated. Most students rely mainly on smart devices as a direct line of communication to their schools and teachers and also develop some digital skills. However, slow connection issues remain the problem.
Challenges of slow internet connection on business development
The challenge of slow internet connections on business development is another sector to emphasize because to compete in today’s business world, fast and reliable internet connections go a long way to put you at an advantage. Without access to faster services, the entire community will remain behind in the progress that big tech companies are making.
Although many factors are known to affect small and medium businesses, slow and unreliable internet service is the main reason why they lose out on sales and contracts. Companies in Shenandoah Valley find it challenging to reach their customers or their markets.
Slow internet affects not only the morale of the employees, but it also affects aspects in the business like productivity, digital infrastructure, internal communication, and external communication.
Productivity
Every successful business is as a result of high productivity. Employees need to perform at their best, and poor internet speed takes that from them.
The time lost from tackling buffering and poor internet connections have huge impacts on the results and growth of the businesses. In the long run, slow connectivity will inevitably result in slow growth.
Digital Infrastructure
Cloud services are already a necessity for starting and growing small businesses. They come with the benefits of delivering quick outcomes and enhanced innovations. However, if these services have to be used for the various downloads and uploads, fast internet connection is massively significant to attain adequate performance.
Internal communications
The flow of information where employees stay connected to each other and updated about the product and other company activities is essential to run a smooth business process. Moreover, this flow relies on the use of emails, webinars, e-newsletters, intranets, and other services.
Without stable internet connections, there is already a big problem, since everyone needs to stay informed and act on the information they get as soon as possible.
External Communications
Just the same way internal communication controls the efficiency of the business, external communication is also important. In this digital age, most suppliers and customers have expectations from companies, and failing to meet those drops the standard results to a miss-out on huge markets.
Customers need to know that they can rely on the firm, and this is where fast and seamless communication comes in. Being able to have quick digital interaction with the customers, either through online contact or social media, effectively depends on the internet speed.
What to do about slow internet speed in Shenandoah Valley
Although there are no single solutions to high-speed internet access challenges in rural communities, what you can do is locate the best choices of internet services around your environment. So if you are a resident, or you find yourself in Shenandoah Valley, visit internetadvisor.com to know your best bet for high-speed internet access.
You get to know all the plans, packages, and accurate pricing before you purchase your next internet plan and stay connected at top speed.