digital divide

Technicians and engineers install antennae receivers on Lena Foss' home in Akiak, Alaska. Internet speeds will double in the town later this month, when it gains access to broadband internet. Katie Basile/KYUK hide caption

In recent years, former coal miners were retrained to work with fiber optics, expanding high-speed Internet — and possible economic opportunities — to rural areas. Meredith Rizzo/NPR hide caption

About one-quarter of lower-income families with school-age children say a mobile device is their only way to access the Internet at home, according to a new study. iStockphoto hide caption

Since Google Fiber rolled out gigabit broadband in Kansas City four years ago, residents have enjoyed fast Internet connections, including what locals call "the world's fastest Starbucks." Frank Morris/KCUR hide caption

Cubans try to connect to the ETECSA server during a May 9 service outage as they wait with other customers outside the offices of the state telecom monopoly in Havana, Cuba. Cuba's government has blamed technological problems on a U.S. embargo. Critics of the government have said it deliberately strangles the Internet to mute dissent. Changing U.S.-Cuba relations may prove who's right. Franklin Reyes/AP hide caption