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28 | I NSIGH T • F e b r u a r y 2 0 2 0 w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m "You think about all those beautiful things that we take for granted in areas where we have connectivity and areas that don't, how we can curb the erosion of that diverse rural people out there and let them thrive and be part of the rest of the world. That, today, requires an internet connection." — Cory Heigl, vice president and general manager, Astrea insider c o n t i n u e d Customized. Innovative. Solutions. Contact our industry experts today! www.fvtc.edu/EmployerResources • 920-735-2525 Services for Business & Industry To stay competitive, you need to find, select and train new and existing employees. Let Fox Valley Technical College help you: • Find new employees • Evaluate with employee assessments • Enhance employee skills with seminars and customized training they look at how many houses lie within that mile. Density in a linear cable mile largely determines where companies choose to invest, Heigl says. Companies have a homes-per-mile threshold, and too few homes in an area means a lower return on investment. e economics must make sense, Heigl says. Companies either face that low ROI or must charge more to recoup their investment. In addition, the demographics in rural areas skew slightly poorer and a little older. "Because (population) has eroded over time, the economics are not strong in rural areas," Heigl says. When companies do want to provide internet service to these areas, they may face infrastructure challenges. e typical options in rural areas include mobile broadband and satellite services. Mobile typically has far reach, but data caps are a limiting factor, Heigl says. Users can watch Netflix on their phone, but they'll usually pay by the end of the month in the form of increased costs, slower service or a combination of the two. Satellite also has limits. Two factors define the quality of internet service: speed and latency. Speed isn't the limiting issue with satellite but rather latency, which refers to the delay before the transfer of data begins. Urban areas typically offer the ideal combination of high speed and low latency, but many rural areas face the problem of high latency, Heigl says. High latency can make the connection feel slow, causing frustration and making applications such as internet gaming almost impossible. When Heigl took over Iron Mountain, Mich.-based Astrea five years ago, he