| Description: | BY ANTON TROIANOVSKY
Eighth-grader Joshua Edwards sometimes does his homework at a McDonald’s—not because he’s hungry after school, but because the fast-food outlet is one of the few places in his hometown of Citronelle, Ala., where he can get Internet access free once the public library closes.
Cheap smartphones and tablets have put Web-ready technology into more hands than ever. But the price of Internet connectivity hasn’t come down nearly as quickly. And in many rural areas, high-speed Internet through traditional phone lines simply isn’t available. The result is a divide between families that have broadband constantly available on their home computers and phones, and those who have to plan their days around visits to free sources of Internet access.
That divide is becoming a bigger problem now that a fast Internet connection has become an essential tool for completing many school assignments. Roughly a third of households with income of less than $30,000 a year and teens |