Asking this as a foreigner - how is the mobile internet connectivity in such areas? (3G, 4G). I wonder if 5G will help such areas where it is too costly to provide cable internet.
My experience visiting two years ago, it was spotty. If you're in town or along an interstate, it's usually good coverage, but maybe not great speeds. E.g. my phone would show 5 bars coverages, but the speeds were noticibly far slower than what I get in Chicago.
I was able to get serviceable, if albeit slow 4G LTE coverage at my parents' home about 7 miles out of town and about 1000 feet on the side of a mountain, but sitting in town at a brewery with a cell tower in sight out of the window, I couldn't get any signal at all. I presume the tower I could see was from an incompatible network.
In Montana, I've been able to get surprisingly strong signals in places I'd least expect it. E.g. I was hiking in the Bitterroot National Forest up Lolo peak, and I had near perfect coverage for nearly my entire hike as far back as 2006. But, if you head out into north eastern Montana, you may well find yourself in a dead zone for quite a while. I dont know if it is still the case, but used to be cells were useless anywhere near an ICBM silo (of which there are quite a few along route 200 east of Great Falls, MT - I attended a boy scout camp a few times out that way in the late 90s).
Regarding 5G, not sure it would help much in my parent's situation as I understand it is even more reliant upon line of site and more susceptible to interference from weather. There are decently sized mountains blocking them between the closest decently sized city and them. There would probably need to be a series of relay towers to overcome that.
I'm in Montana (pretty close to the middle of nowhere, but am close to a highway and a small city). The 4G is dramatically faster than my home internet, but my data is capped for tethering. After I hit the cap, the speed is barely able to load HN in a reasonable time. My internet is DSL and I get about half the advertised rate of 25mb down, 5mb up. Cable internet is available literally across the street, and so I've paid a copay of about $5k to get it run under the highway and be able to be run to my house. I ordered it last October and they estimate they will start in the next few months, weather allowing. The long wait aside, I'm so excited. Supposed to get 400mb down and I think 20mb up.
It is getting better, but a big part of the problem is that it is the only thing getting better. They run fiber lines to cell towers, but the people around still can't even get DSL. More people are relying on mobile data and a few others have gotten mobile data to a home router for internet since the only other option is dialup or slow and expensive as fuck satellite. It is enough for a single person to watch a video at 480 or maybe 720, but that is about it and slightly temperamental.
