It can be hard to imagine a time when the world didn’t have access to the internet. But in reality, it wasn’t until the 1960’s that the United States Department of Defense started coming up with the frameworks of what would become the modern internet. By the 1980’s the internet was being used widely by the government and military. It had also been adopted by academic institutions across the country. It wasn’t until the 1990’s that the internet was available to most private users. In 1995, the US finally had what is recognized as the modern internet as the last of the restrictions banning its commercialization were lifted. Today, with a population of 328 million people, there are nearly 300 million internet users in the United States. The US also has the highest number of internet providers in the world with more than 7,000 companies offering services. Yet still, there are many areas in the US with limited to no internet access at all.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, access to the internet has become more important than ever. Because of quarantine, people across the country have had to rely on the internet to keep themselves entertained, connected with people they love, informed on matters of the world, and maintaining their jobs. Having internet access became especially important for the millions of students who need to virtually attend school each day. For some living in rural communities, they were at a great disadvantage because their students did not have reliable internet access. Serving as the 46th Governor of Wisconsin, Democrat Tony Evers delivered a pre-recorded State of the State address in January of 2021. One of his main points in the speech was to address Wisconsin’s problematic internet access.

“It’s 2021, folks,” Governor Evers said, “having access to high-speed internet is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity. Every Wisconsinite across our state should have access to reliable, high-speed internet. Period.” He went on to state that to tackle the issue he was calling for the investment of $200 million to expand broadband, bringing internet capabilities to about 430,000 people living throughout rural Wisconsin. One such community with a population of around 1,400 is Eagle River. This past year has been particularly difficult for the children of the area who have had their education compromised because of limited internet access. This March, the Eagle River Northland Pines School District announced that they would be part of a state funded trial program to increase internet access with the help of drones.

The school has provided all students with Chromebooks and designated hot spots to log in for the school day. However, these hot spots are mostly not within the range of where the students live. Many families can’t afford to connect their homes to broadband internet. On top of that, for many, the option isn’t even available to them. More than half of the district’s students don’t have reliable internet access. Spooky Action, a drone development company based out of Minneapolis, has developed a drone system that can fly indefinitely and be used to provide internet connectivity with a dynamic networking drone program called Telelift. Wisconsin Telelift (WiscLift) is bringing this technology to the Northland Pines School District.

A drone will be tethered to a ground station and flown 100ft in the air for up to 42 days at a time. WiscLift will establish a network of these tethered drones to encompass the 435 sq miles the school district covers. Once all of the drones are in place, they will serve as a cell tower network transmitting high speed internet. The drones will allow students full access to their school work as well as supporting the area’s other internet based needs. Northland Pines Administrator Scott Foster pointed out that these drones are not going to completely solve the problem of internet access for rural communities. “But I do think it has a spot,” he said, “and maybe it will point us in a direction of a better long-term solution for these really hard to meet areas.”

“Access to high-speed Internet is a necessity and critical to how we live, learn and work,” Governor Evers said. “It’s the key that opens the door to new opportunities for our students, our communities and our state, and will be vital to our state’s economic bounce back. That’s why I declared 2021 the Year of Broadband Access and proposed the largest state investment in broadband ever, and I look forward to this creative and innovative pilot program to help some of our most rural students get connected.” Currently, WiscLift is testing the drone program in Eagle River. If it is successful, the program can easily be duplicated in communities across the country with unreliable internet access.