With the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit expected to rule on the Federal Communications Commission’s internet regulations any day now, it’s hard to believe none of the presidential candidates or more media outlets have acknowledged the agency’s rules could seriously alter the internet as we know it.

While innovation is often associated with urban areas such as Silicon Valley where companies are constantly inventing new devices and services, that experimentation and ingenuity are not limited to our urban centers. Rural America also thrives on the same high-speed wired and wireless networks that empower ideas. We continue to innovate, just as we have for centuries.

From telemedicine services that connect patients in remote areas with the healthcare providers, to mobile devices and apps that help us better predict crop yields, or even to self-driving GPS-guided tractors, technology is a critical factor in the lives of our members.

The mobile revolution is especially important as it has expanded internet connectivity to previously unserved and underserved areas and broadened the reach of essential services. High-speed wireless internet connectivity is not a service we take for granted. It is improving our quality of life in fundamental ways and helping reinvent how we do things.

Some of the new rules out of the FCC, however, have us concerned. Last year, in a straight party-line vote the commission approved rules that could make internet service slower and more expensive in the future by slowing investment and making it harder for innovators to develop and bring to market new products and services.

Worse, the effects could be felt especially hard in small towns, farming communities and other areas whose residents stand to benefit most from new mobile technologies that will reduce urban-rural connectivity disparities in the coming years.

The FCC’s regrettable decision to regulate internet and wireless services with rules dating back to a 1934 law written for rotary telephones makes little sense. It signaled an alarming shift toward government control over the internet and what we do online. Applying these antiquated rules to wireless networks or mobile broadband makes even less sense.

The mobile industry is unquestionably competitive and has brought countless benefits to rural America. Regulating mobile as we enter a new era of connected products and devices known as the Internet of Things and as providers plan fifth-generation or 5G deployments would be a disastrous mistake.

Clearly, the FCC did not fully take into account the needs of rural Americans when it approved this policy.

At the time, one of the dissenting FCC officials rightly predicted that this action “welcomes litigation.” The legal wrangling over these internet regulations has again reached the second-highest court in the land — the Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington.

Whether the court upholds the regulations or reverses them entirely, we fear we may be stuck in a vicious cycle where regulatory action and lawsuits are the norm. All of which distracts from the more worthwhile policy and economic imperative of deploying next-generation networks to all corners of the country.

That is why it’s now up to our elected officials in Congress to end the uncertainty and find a path forward regardless of the court’s decision. Given its significant effect on the internet and the essential services it provides, Congress must step in and find some sensible compromise that protects an open internet without the strict application of outdated regulations that could derail its growth and reach into more rural communities.