Wireless is the solution being embraced by many users in the American heartland who see no reason to wait for their telecommunications carriers to provide service. Specifically, they're turning to fixed terrestrial wireless, and satellites.

"We continue to fall behind other countries in terms of getting broadband to rural communities," complained Scott Lindsay, head of the Rural Broadband Coalition in Washington. The most recent report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ranks the U.S. 12th in total broadband penetration. "There are a slew of technologies out there, but it looks like fixed wireless has taken forefront, [with] satellite service being a good alternative in some areas," Lindsay said.

Fixed wireless was the answer for Will Thompson, CIO at Clarendon College, a 1,000-student institution in the 2,000-person town of Clarendon, Texas, 60 miles southeast of Amarillo.

"Except for T1 lines, it was the only choice when we started with it five years ago," Thompson recalled. "And it proved to be faster and cheaper than T1 lines."

Actually, he was lucky to have more than one alternative. While broadband penetration in the U.S. is now 40 percent in urban and suburban areas, it has reached only 24 percent in rural areas, noted John Horrigan, associate director of the Pew Internet Project in Washington.