ArticlePloS one2025
Looking beyond digital broadband speeds: Rural British Columbian's experiences with internet connectivity as a basic necessity.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Emotional, relational, technological, and financial dimensions of transnational elder caregiving among Nigerian immigrants in Northern British Columbia.BMC health services research · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimThis study examined the experience of digital connectivity among rural-living British Columbians both with and without access to high-speed Internet at home.
backgroundEvidence indicates that fewer rural communities have access to high-speed Internet compared to urban communities in Canada, despite government commitments to bring high-speed Internet to all British Columbians by 2027. Yet, differences within rural areas relative to those with access to high-speed compared to those with lower speeds remains a relatively unexplored area.
methodsA cross-sectional survey of rural British Columbians both with and without high-speed Internet was conducted between October 2023 and April 2024. Closed and open-ended questions gathered participants' thoughts and experiences with digital technology access and use.
findingsOverall, 461 (M age = 56 years, 72% female) rural BC community members (47% with access to 50 + Mbps download speeds) completed the survey. Despite similar overall digital readiness, skill, and confidence using digital technology, those without high-speed Internet were older, more remote-living, reported using fewer connected devices alongside greater frustration with technology, yet had comparable frequency of Internet use except for less streaming compared to those with access to high-speed Internet. Similar themes were found among open-ended responses of both those with and without high-speed Internet access and surrounded: i) the actual and potential benefits of high-speed connectivity, and ii.) disconnects on many levels, but particularly between expectations for and reality of high-speed connectivity.
conclusionRegardless of broadband speed, there were greater similarities than there were differences across rural community participants, with common perceptions of the benefits of connectivity amid experiences with pervasive disconnections on a number of levels.
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