The People Keeping the Internet On

Keeping the internet running smoothly during the coronavirus crisis isn’t business as usual

An Openreach engineer inside the broadband exchange at the Openreach training center in Peterborough, U.K. Photo: Joe Giddens — PA Images/Getty Images

Jamie Goate first started setting up phone connections and broadband links 20 years ago, when he troubleshot dial-up internet connections and routed copper phone wires back to junction boxes. But he didn’t get his biggest job until about a month ago.