People are just set in their ways..they always paid by check...memorized the channel number of their favorite shows..they just want to push the easy button...some people love change but sometimes new technology feels like going backwards instead of forward..especially streaming where you can't...
We have a nice long thread about it
https://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/echostar-dish-raises-doubts-about-ability-to-continue-as-a-going-concern.408869/
Not really...atleast on the border..American stations sell advertising for Canadian viewers and vice versa....yes they require Canadian stations to carry x amount of Canadian programming but most Canadian cable and satellite companies carry American TV stations and on the border American cable...
Rural areas have more powerful cell towers than urban...the reason is a cell tower biggest limitation is number of users..so in a urban area you have smaller cells with directional antennas to serve pockets of dense population..rural you have 1 tower with omnidirectional antennas to serve a much...
I believe they are above 70% now...it all depends what the FCC calls rural and also coverage just means the service is available...they don't measure how many people can receive a signal at their particular location...if you live in timbucktoo..dish only needs 1 tower and they have service...not...
Unless you had 2 modems tied together somehow..you didn't get that speed in 1996
In reality you couldn't do anything with those speeds if you really had them...wasn't much of a web in 1996
https://www.pingdom.com/blog/the-web-in-1996-1997/