Access and Impacts: Exploring how internet access at home and online training shape people’s online behavior and perspectives about their lives

Internet access for Americans has taken on new urgency since the pandemic. Prior to it, many people without a home broadband connection could manage, perhaps using a smartphone for web surfing or taking a computer to the library to use Wi-Fi for more data-intensive applications. But the pandemic exposed the limits of wireless data plans for schoolwork or working from home, as well as the severe consequences of having limited or no access to the internet at home. Yet the process of getting people connected who have not had home service (or service on a consistent basis) is not well understood. The availability of internet offers for low-income households is a start, and these offers help increase adoption rates beyond what otherwise would be the case. At the same time, home access in itself is not always enough; since the pandemic, some students do not log onto virtual school even if they have been provided a data plan and computing device. Anecdotes such as these suggest a number of questions about broadband adoption are worthy of inquiry:

• How does having access at home shape people’s online behavior?
• What factors may influence people’s online behavior once they subscribe?
• Does having home internet access affect how people view their lives?

This research addresses these questions through a survey of subscribers to Comcast’s Internet Essentials program. The 2020 survey was fielded prior to the pandemic; it has a total of 618 respondents. The research also has a longitudinal design by which 218 respondents from a 2018 survey were called back in 2020. This allows analysis of the change in many metrics over time. The research also contains a comparison group, that is, a nationally representative survey of households similar to the IE customer base.