North Carolina's biggest cities are far outnumbered by smaller towns, but it's the bigger cities that tend to attract big businesses. That leaves rural parts of the state struggling to provide enough jobs to keep people working.

On Monday, state and community leaders met at Johnston, Piedmont, and Wake Technical Community Colleges for an interactive video teleconference. They discussed the great gap between North Carolina's big cities and small towns.

Brian Lehrschall is a student at Wake Technical Community College in the College Transfer Program. He plans to transfer to a four-year university to study political science and history education. He spends a lot of time every day on his computer.

“I'm either checking email or reading the news,” he explained.

But not everyone in our state has such easy access to the Internet, particularly people living in rural parts of North Carolina.

“It no longer matters where you live,” said Kelly Dunn, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Bridge Communications. “What matters is your access to information.”

State leaders say one of the biggest challenges is making sure people all across the state have access to modern technology like the Internet.

As long as North Carolinians can get online, they can work anywhere in the world from the comfort of their home. And as long as a community has internet access, it can attract new businesses to the area.

“Right now, a business can choose to locate anywhere in the world,” explained Billy Ray Hall, with the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center. “If [a business] has Internet access or if it's a major employer, it can choose to locate about anywhere and produce its product thanks to the transportation networks in the world.”

But Lehrschall knows first hand how hard it can be to get online, depending on where you live.

“My grandmother lives in Richmond County," he said. "Right now, you can't even get wireless access there.”

The North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center says just five years ago, the Tar Heel state ranked 42nd in the nation in providing Internet access in all counties. In those five years, North Carolina has jumped 30 spots in the rankings and now is 12th nationally.