BEDFORD COUNTY, Va. – Senator Mark Warner joined state and local leaders in Bedford on Wednesday to highlight how new federal investments are finally connecting rural communities to high-speed internet.
The visit marked a major milestone for Bedford County, which is quickly becoming one of Virginia’s most connected rural regions, due to state and federal funding, including funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
For Bedford residents like Rebekah Trittipoe, access to reliable, high-speed internet was once out of reach.
“Where we are in Bedford County, we didn’t have any option for high-speed internet,” Trittipoe said. “We used one of the phone-based company plans for a while, but we kept getting throttled, so we had to go to Starlink. But everyone may not be able to do that.”
Trittipoe’s story is a common one across rural Virginia, where many families still struggle with slow or unreliable internet service. But in Bedford County, that is starting to change.
Senator Warner, who helped write the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, said he is glad to see funding from the legislation finally trickling in and making a difference on ground.
“It shouldn’t have taken this long, but we’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel,” Warner said. “I can’t think of a semi-rural county like Bedford that’s closer to getting universal coverage almost anywhere in Virginia. The fact that the ISPs (internet service providers) are laying the fiber and bringing it home, I think by mid-2026, virtually everyone will have that coverage.”
It’s the kind of progress many Bedford residents say has been a long time coming. Trittipoe notes internet access today is about more than just streaming or social media, she says it’s a basic need.
“In this society, in this culture, without internet, it really makes it difficult,” she said. “Paying bills, for example, or Googling. Everyone Googles when you want to know information. So, expanding internet is always a good idea.”
During the meeting, state broadband officials and internet providers pointed to Bedford’s momentum, noting it has outpaced any other county in the Commonwealth over the past three years.
“A lot of the times when we talk about these maps, we show what’s been funded, not what’s been built,” said Chandler Vaughan, Associate Director of the Virginia Office of Broadband, while pointing to while pointing to a nearly fully covered broadband map. “This shows what’s been built.”
Looking ahead, Warner said additional federal funding could also support expanded cellular service in rural areas.
“We may have up to $1.5 billion coming,” Warner said. “That means we’ll potentially have some left over to increase cellphone services in some of these rural areas as well.”