Low-income

As consolidation in the US residential broadband market continues, there is concern that that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are “cherry-picking” areas for upgrades to fast broadband services.  This policy brief examines this question for Los Angeles (LA) County during the 2014-17 period. In particular, it probes for evidence that ISPs are neglecting investments in low-income areas and communities of color.

Digital inclusion is the practice of ensuring digital equity, a condition in which all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy, and economy. To succeed, digital inclusion practitioners must address the many barriers to digital equity, including unaffordable broadband subscriptions, lack of access to devices, and insufficient digital skills. Communities with publicly owned networks are well-positioned to develop digital inclusion initiatives.

Among the states that have fallen furthest behind on broadband access, a new Census Bureau report found that several also have some of the highest levels of poverty in the nation. Inequality and the lack of broadband access have become inherently intertwined in the US Without reliable high-speed internet access, it is more difficult to apply to the jobs and educational programs that can help people escape poverty.

A recent Census Bureau report found that several of the states that have fallen furthest behind on broadband access also have some of the highest levels of poverty in the country. From the beginning, broadband access was promoted as a means to reduce inequality between urban and rural America, but despite these programs to bridge this original "digital divide," stubborn gaps remains.

Cox announced it has increased speeds for the company's low-cost internet product, Connect2Compete, which is available to families with school-aged children who are enrolled in low-income assistance programs. Download speeds are now up to 25 megabytes per second for all Connect2Compete customers. Upload speeds have also increased from 1 to 3 megabytes per second.

In cities like Denver, where broadband is so prolific that availability is estimated at 99.94%, the digital divide is no longer about lack of internet service or limited to rural areas.

At the outset of their recent Op-Ed, Blair Levin and Larry Downes reject federal policymakers’ singular focus on promoting rural broadband deployment, arguing that the digital divide is not merely a question of rural access. In fact, they rightly note that there are more disconnected folks in urban areas than in rural ones. Millions of disconnected people live where broadband is already deployed, but still don’t subscribe to it.

Sen Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Rep Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY-18) introduced a bicameral bill that would increase access to broadband service for low-income urban and rural Americans.  The Promoting Access to Broadband Act would help states increase awareness of, and enrollment in, the Federal Communications Commission’s Lifeline program, which aims to help low-income households pay for their telephone and broadband service charges by providing a monthly subsidy of $9.25.  Enrollment in the Lifeline program remains extremely low nationwide. The Promoting Access to Broadband Act wo

In their recent Op-Ed in the Washington Post, “Cities, not rural areas, are the real Internet deserts,” authors Blair Levin and Larry Downes argue that the digital divide in cities persists because uneducated people do not understand the importance, or “relevance,” of the internet in their everyday lives.

The digital divide is not exclusively or even most significantly a rural problem. Three times as many households in urban areas remain unconnected as in rural areas. And regardless of geography, access isn’t the main reason these homes are without Internet service. The vast majority of US homes without broadband service could have it today, but they don’t want it.