Measuring Internet Adoption

We supposedly have a decent handle these days of the number of locations that can buy broadband due to the Federal Communications Commission broadband mapping and data collection effort. While some folks will argue about the accuracy of the FCC's National Broadband Map, we know a lot more than we did just a few years ago. The map is supposed to disclose where internet service providers (ISPs) are capable of serving, but not where they have customers. But we still don’t have a handle on how many homes have broadband connections––particularly by neighborhood and geographic areas. That’s because ISPs are not required to report in that level of detail. And they shouldn’t be, because the identity of customers is probably the most important trade secret for any ISP. Yet policy folks have always wanted to know more about broadband adoption rates. It’s hard to develop state and local policies and programs to get more Internet into homes without knowing specifically who does and doesn’t have broadband, computers, etc.