BroadbandNow Estimates Availability for all 50 States; Confirms that More than 42 Million Americans Do Not Have Access to Broadband

In 2020, we manually checked availability of more than 11,000 addresses using Federal Communications Commission Form 477 data as the “source of truth.” Based on the results, we estimated that 42 million Americans do not have the ability to purchase broadband internet. In 2021, we expanded our study, manually checking availability of terrestrial broadband internet (wired or fixed wireless) for more than 58,000 addresses. In all, we checked more than 110,000 address-provider combinations using the FCC Form 477 data as the “source of truth”. This study confirms our estimate that at least 42 million Americans do not have access to broadband. For the first time, we also estimate broadband availability for all 50 states. In addition, the study shows that:

• All technologies, including DSL, fiber, cable and fixed wireless are over-reported.
• Over-reporting occurs in cities, rural towns and everywhere in between.
• For more than 12% of the addresses that did have broadband service, the technology reported by FCC data is incorrect.