By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 23, 2005; B01

Most of the time, Alicia Stahl can't imagine living anywhere other than her 500-acre farm in a tranquil stretch of Hughesville, where the only sounds on a recent afternoon were the bellowing Black Angus cattle and the tawny planks of a tobacco barn rattling in the spring breeze.

But whenever she tries to connect to the Internet -- to buy parts for a broken-down tractor or study for graduate courses in electronic commerce that she's taking mostly over the Web -- Stahl becomes so frustrated that she's tempted to move to the city. She said the only reliable Internet access in this rural eastern part of Charles County is dial-up service through her telephone, which is about 50 times slower than some broadband connections in urban areas.

"It just drives you absolutely crazy," said Stahl, 42. "That's the main problem today in rural America: getting high-speed Internet access."

"There are certain things in this country that we believe people have a right to have no matter where they are: clean drinking water, paved roads, basic phone service, basic electric service," he said. "I think ultimately, broadband Internet is going to be one of those things."

 Filed Under: TECHNOLOGY
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