Over 40 million Americans lack reliable internet access. Jared Mauch is among the ISP 'mavericks' taking matters into their own hands. And now, he's getting government help.
in recent yearsespecially in unserved rural areas — where experts say that the major telecom companies such as Comcast and AT&T often aren't expanding because they don't see a return on investment. With many rural homes separated by acres of land, Scharrer said,"there's a fairly large cost-per-mile to build these systems and we just have to find ways to make it work.".
"We certainly see some people that I call mavericks that are taking measures in their own hands," Bolton said."A lot of the private citizens, they've actually been able to do it without a whole lot of federal funding."Now that government funds are starting to trickle in, Bolton said, there will be a lot more opportunities for smaller outfits and community co-ops to bridge the digital divide.
Before starting on this DIY venture, Mauch was already familiar with the inner-workings of ISPs. By day, he's a network architect at Akamai Technologies, where he helps companies get content like video streaming to their customers faster.