Connecting Philadelphia: 2021 Household Internet Assessment Survey

This report explores broadband and computer connectivity in Philadelphia, with a special focus on connectivity since the COVID-19 pandemic. Notable findings include:

• Home broadband adoption grew from 70 percent (according to the 2019 American Community Survey) to 84 percent in Philadelphia according to data released from a June-July 2021 survey of 2,500 Philadelphia city households.
• More than half of growth is due to discount programs: Of the 14 percentage-point increase, more than half is attributable to households signing up for free or discount internet offers (e.g. Comcast Internet Essentials, T-Mobile Project10million, or the Emergency Broadband Benefit).
• Post-pandemic connectivity gains are tenuous. 32 percent of all households are "subscription vulnerable" in that they would have a difficult time maintaining service without a discount offer or experienced service interruption in the pandemic due to difficulty in paying bills.
• Awareness of free/discount programs: 13 percent of all households had heard of the EBB and 31 percent had heard of discount programs such as Internet Essentials.
• Affordability is the chief barrier to not having service: 42 percent cite cost as the most important reason they lack home broadband, 22 percent say their smartphone is sufficient, 14 percent are not interested in service, and 12 percent lack "digital readiness" for using the internet.

[Benton Senior Fellow John B. Horrigan designed and analyzed the survey]