Data & Mapping

Sen Brian Schatz (D-HI) led a group of 20 senators in calling on the leaders of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to share data to identify communities without high-speed internet access and work together to improve broadband connectivity. In a letter to the agency leaders, the senators also called on them to collaborate and find ways to ensure families in need also have information on accessing Lifeline, an existing federal phone and internet service program. “We urge HUD and USDA t

The COVID-19 pandemic has vividly demonstrated the disadvantages of lacking home internet service. One in four (4) households in New York State do not have a foundational tool for internet connectivity – a wireline high-speed internet subscription for their home. These gaps are more pronounced for low-income New Yorkers, older adults, and communities of color. The following data shines a light on access to digital tools in New York State using 2019 American Community Survey data. Key datapoints are as follows:

Smartphone ownership (85%) and home broadband subscriptions (77%) have increased among American adults since 2019 – from 81% and 73% respectively. Though modest, both increases are statistically significant and come at a time when a majority of Americans say the internet has been important to them personally. And 91% of adults report having at least one of these technologies. A Pew Research Center survey also finds that some Americans have difficulties when trying to go online.

At a time when people can work remotely and run businesses from practically anywhere, the internet should be a boon to the rural economy. Not only could it keep Wisconsin's signature farming industry connected, it could help curb population losses in small towns, where many young people feel they must leave for opportunities elsewhere. Yet a significant portion of rural Wisconsin — if it has access to the internet at all — lacks access at broadband speeds, meaning a connection of at least 25 megabit per second downloads and 3 Mbps uploads.

Although data usage moderated in Q1 2021 after pandemic-fueled rapid growth in 2020, subscribers continued to adapt to the new broadband environment by embracing faster speeds. Almost one-tenth (9.8%) of all subscribers were provisioned for gigabit speeds at the end of Q1, a year-over-year increase of 261% from the 1Q20 figure of 3.8% and a 15% increase from the 8.5% adoption rate in 4Q20. Over the past two quarters the percentage of subscribers provisioned for gigabit-speed service has risen 75%, from 5.6% in 3Q20.

US government data shows that home-Internet customers pay more each year and that average broadband expenditures are rising faster than inflation, but cable and telecom lobbies keep claiming that broadband prices are getting lower. The latest example came  from USTelecom—which represents AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink/Lumen, Frontier, and other DSL and fiber Internet providers. The group unveiled the latest version of its Broadband Pricing Index [BPI] that measures prices for residential Internet service.

Today’s USTelecom report is the latest in a spate of flawed and deeply conflicted research from internet service providers on the price of their own service. It is curious that USTelecom would rely on third-party surveys rather than get the pricing data directly from its ISP members. If internet service is as affordable as USTelecom claims, ISPs could prove it by disclosing their pricing data to the Federal Communications Commission.

Today’s USTelecom update is just more of the same grossly misleading and inaccurate analysis of broadband prices first seen in a prior report released last year. This new report, like the earlier versions, falsely asserts that the broadband prices internet users pay are declining.

Using Federal Communications Commission and other public data sources to assess recent trends in residential fixed broadband pricing in the United States. The analysis reveals continued substantial price reductions for both the most popular and highest-speed broadband internet services. The data show consumers are also benefiting from marked increases in the speeds they receive for their broadband dollar.

Competition is a wonderful thing. A case in point is the enormous difference Charter Spectrum charges new customers in areas where competition exists, and where it does not. Stop the Cap! compared promotional new customer offers in the metro Rochester (NY) market where Spectrum faces token competition from Frontier’s slow speed DSL service. Then we checked pricing in neighborhoods where a fiber to the home overbuilder called Greenlight also offers service. Spectrum does not even bother offering new customers its entry-level 200 Mbps plan in areas where it has significant fiber competition.