“The cruel irony of the digital divide” in Colorado: Urban poor are left behind even as access, technology improves

When money is tight, Elysia Lucero has to make a choice: Pay the internet bill or buy food for her family.  She bought food last month. On Wednesday, she stopped by the PCs for People store on West Alameda Avenue in Denver (CO) to take care of the unpaid internet bill. “We can’t live without the internet,” said Lucero, whose service had been cut off. At least her family qualifies for internet access that is relatively affordable, less than $15 a month, compared to the $50 to $100 that many households in metro Denver pay. But efforts to keep broadband prices below $15 a month appear to be relegated to companies or nonprofit organizations. Attempts to close the digital divide by legislators focus on rural communities, where internet infrastructure doesn’t exist. Sometimes after those communities finally get service, broadband prices can soar into the triple digits. “Almost all (public) subsidies are going to households with zero access as opposed to households with zero money,” said Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.  “The political dynamic is that there are no opponents to working on rural broadband…If you start to look into investing in broadband for lower-income users, you make the cable companies nervous because it increases competition.”