I lived in one of those areas in the 90s. We had dial-up. I was incredibly happy when we moved to the city and were able to get broadband. I was shocked when I found out a friend who lives in my city today was still operating with broadband. He complained about his wife having trouble using voip while watching netflix, so I suggested he upgrade his router or move it. When I went over to install the new router I found a broadband modem...! His street is serviced by the same companies as mine. He is in an arguably affluent neighborhood. He had to switch companies to get to 50mbit+.
24 million Americans don't have any options that the FCC considers as fixed broadband service (25/3mbps)