In the Northland, the fight for faster Internet speeds knows no boundary — no state boundary, at least.

Like their neighbors to the west in northeastern Minnesota, residents of northwestern Wisconsin are eager for broadband and for their state officials to lay the groundwork for its infrastructure the way state officials did a century ago for electrical service and telephone connections.

The Wisconsin Legislature's budget-writing Joint Finance Committee last week offered funding for broadband expansion grants "by a modest but crucial $7.5 million per year," state Sen. Janet Bewley of Mason reported in a column submission received by the Duluth News Tribune on Friday.

"Even more importantly, it would have reserved these new funds for counties with high unemployment and limited broadband access. The motion would have doubled funding available for Broadband Expansion Grants," Bewley wrote. "Unfortunately, our reasonable proposal was rejected by majority Republicans on the Finance Committee."

Frustrating for northwestern Wisconsin and other rural areas of Wisconsin, elected leaders in the Badger State seem to be moving even more slowly on broadband than their counterparts in the Gopher State, whose pace has been criticized.

For Wisconsin, it's not too late this year to get going.

If Bewley ever had doubts about how critical this issue was to Northlanders, they were erased last weekend.

"Last Sunday my husband had severe chest pains at our new home 30 miles south of Ashland, where we don't have cellphone coverage. A wind storm had knocked out our power, and our land line wasn't working. I had to drive over a mile away to a spot where I knew I could get cellphone reception in order to call the hospital. We were lucky. We got to the hospital, and my husband was transported to Duluth for surgery and is recovering quickly. Others may not be so lucky," she wrote.

Minnesota and Wisconsin remain frustratingly behind many other states, however. Elsewhere, state officials and elected leaders not only have expressed how important the infrastructure is that allows Internet and faster speeds, especially in non-metro areas, they have stepped up to make strong financial commitments. Minnesota and Wisconsin, meanwhile, haven't yet gotten far enough past the talk.

FROM AN EDITORIAL IN THE DULUTH NEWS TRIBUNE