The Broadband Speed Divide

The federal government released an incredible amount of data about where broadband Internet is available and where it isn't. The data is confusing and hard to work with, but it does tend to show major gaps in broadband coverage.

To start, the data released by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration shows that somewhere between five and ten percent of Americans lack any kind of broadband connection. Major institutions have inadequate connections. Two-thirds of schools have connections with capacities less than what they need. Only four percent of libraries report having optimum broadband connections. Our interest, however, is in rural broadband. NTIA reports that a gap remains between rural and urban residents in their adoption of broadband, but the gap is narrowing. In 2010, 66% of urban residents and 54% of rural residents had broadband connections. This year, the rates are 70% and 60% respectively. In rural areas, 9.4 percent of residents told NTIA that they didn't have broadband because it was unavailable. In urban areas, that reason was given by only 1% of those asked.