2020-03-30_Bloomberg_Businessweek

 TECHNOLOGY Bloomberg Businessweek March 30, 2020

Wanna Date? Don’t

ILLUSTRATION

BY

JUSTIN

METZ

THEBOTTOMLINE Withshutdownskeepingstudentsand

workersathome,the5Grollouthastakena backseattoefforts

toimprovebroadbandinternetaccess.

Stephane, a 32-ye

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get a robust Purel

woman at thegro

tuna.” It was good

human being, b

responded. Becau

Even as theco

fraught new erao

lennials—trappedu

from-home polic

bars—have steppe

ting, and flirting.A

women makethe

in the U.S. rose 8

of March, accord

Ship, which letsf

users, says messa

in the week toMa

in Seattle andNew

were introduced.

more—often about

188% increaseinm

files from January

As social distan

the U.S. and Europ

people will signu

for the time being

is that users willb

subsidized service to schools and libraries. The

FCC has also gotten about 500 internet providers

to pledge not to cut off service.

It’s not possible to build new infrastructure—5G

or otherwise—fast enough to deal with the acute

need for connectivity, but many people are scram-

bling to do what they can. Andrew Moore, chief

information officer of the Boulder Valley School

District in Colorado, has helped about 100 stu-

dents sign up for Comcast’s low-cost broadband

service and has purchased dozens of mobile

Wi-Fi hotspots. “I’d love to see all the telco pro-

viders through this period turn off the cost for the

hotspots and let the data flow,” he says. “We are in

extraordinary times right now, and that requires

extraordinary leadership from our corporations.

Get us through May or June.” —Joshua Brustein

21

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○ Datingappsarediscouraging

physicalmeetings andsuggesting

virtual hookups instead