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/
It's much better FREE with Comcast and a few others...you might want to look at your deals page on your local cable company..Peacock comes free with certain internet speeds...and yes I have links if needed