Data & Mapping

BroadbandNow Research manually checked broadband availability of more than 11,000 addresses using Federal Communications Commission Form 477 data and estimates that 42 million Americans do not have the ability to purchase broadband internet. The FCC's Broadband Deployment Report states that 21.3 million Americans, or 6.5 percent of the population, lack access to broadband internet, including wired and fixed wireless connections. Here’s what we did and how BroadbandNow arrived at this estimate:

We encourage the Federal Communications Commission to take a broad, meaningful look at broadband deployment as it relates to its use and to investigate data that demonstrate low-income neighborhoods lack fiber infrastructure. We reiterate that the FCC should reaffirm its 2019 Broadband Deployment Report conclusion that fixed and mobile broadband services are complementary, not substitutes for each other. The FCC’s Broadband Deployment Report and Form 477 data collection must also incorporate key

At rallies and town halls across Iowa, health care, climate change, and education were the top concerns, no matter which candidate was on stage. That’s in line with Gallup polling, which shows infrastructure as thirteenth behind more common concerns like health care, education and economic policy. But the simple question of internet access sits in the background of many of those issues.

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition released its 2020 Policy Roadmap, outlining the path forward for community anchor institution (CAI) broadband. Schools, libraries, healthcare providers, and other CAIs rely on high-quality broadband to provide essential services to their communities. It is imperative that policymakers, industry, and anchor institutions collaborate to connect all CAIs to affordable, gigabit broadband – a key step in closing the digital divide. The SHLB Coalition will pursue the following policy priorities in 2020:

In my role as House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member, addressing the “digital divide” has been one of my top priorities. In order to address areas that have unreliable broadband, we need to accurately know where those locations are.

While the spirit of this effort is right on—we have a broadband problem—the way we go about addressing it is not right. 

The Federal Communications Commission took its single biggest step to date to close the digital divide by establishing the new Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) to efficiently fund the deployment of high-speed broadband networks in rural America. Through a two phase reverse auction mechanism, the FCC will direct up to $20.4 billion over ten years to finance up to gigabit speed broadband networks in unserved rural areas, connecting millions more American homes and businesses to digital opportunity.

In 2020 and beyond, my principal focus will be ensuring that our communications networks and technologies support security, privacy, and our democratic values. Internet inequality is a persistent problem that is only growing in urgency. Low-income people, people of color, and people in rural areas either aren’t getting online or are making great sacrifices to get connected. For example, according to a Pew Research study, only 45 percent of adults with incomes under $30,000 have broadband at home. Solving this problem is a moral imperative.

Public Knowledge, Common Cause, New America’s Open Technology Institute, et al. met with Federal Communications Commission Wireline Competition Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staff on January 16, 2020, to express concern regarding the methodology, analysis, and conclusions in the Fifteenth Broadband Deployment Report Notice of Inquiry. They disagreed with the FCC’s conclusions in its two prior broadband deployment reports that broadband is being deployed to all Americans in a timely fashion.

Rep Bill Johnson (R-OH), Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, and local dignitaries met to discuss the importance of broadband access for Southeastern Ohio’s rural communities. In Marietta (OH), Chairman Pai outlined the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) at the roundtable. He said the RDOF would be divided into two phases. Phase 1 will cost $16 billion and will target areas with no broadband access. He said part of phase 2 will be data collection. “We’ll collect information from providers as a map may show an area has service, but they don’t in reality,” he explained.