Research

On February 10th, Next Century Cities released "What Comes Next? A Community-Centered Approach to Legacy Network Retirement," a paper that advocates for the Federal Communications Commission to revisit consumer-protection safeguards to guide legacy telecommunications network retirement.

Examining pricing data from fifty national and regional providers, we’ve found that prices have decreased across all major download speeds (25Mbps up to 1Gbps+) and technologies (cable, fiber, DSL and fixed wireless). This study utilizes average pricing of broadband internet plans for 50 providers since 2016. Prices have fallen since 2016, with the highest speed plans falling the most. When looking at the average price for internet in each speed bucket starting in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the fourth quarter of 2021:

Pew Research Center's report is the second of two analyzing the insights of hundreds of technology experts who responded in the summer of 2021 to a canvassing of their predictions about the evolution of online public spaces and their role in democracy in the coming years.

This report by George Ford at the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal and Economic Public Policy Studies compares fixed broadband speeds in US cities to speeds in cities in other, higher-income nations. The data include fixed broadband speeds for 4,480 cities across the globe (910 in the US) from 98 nations. Across multiple comparisons, the report finds that the US has equal or higher download speeds—often much higher—than do other comparator countries.

The phase-out of the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (EBB) and the transition to the new Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) represents an opportunity to take stock of the EBB program’s impact, and adjust key parameters to enhance the impact of the ACP.

A deep dive into the role digital skills play in people’s interest in and ability to adopt and engage with the internet. This report reveals how much trust people place in public and private institutions such as schools and community-based nonprofits when it comes to learning about discounted and subsidized internet services. The survey findings, focused on income-insecure households (those making $50,000 or less annually), highlight the importance of digital skills training programs and trusted outreach partners as critical components to effective digital inclusion initiatives. 

Amidst COVID-19-related stay-at-home orders, the economy moved largely online and broadband internet became more important than ever. This paper explores the relationship between broadband and employment rates during April and May 2020 in rural US counties. We use two broadband dimensions: infrastructure availability rates and household adoption rates. We use a two-stage least squares approach to address endogeneity and control for socioeconomic, demographic, and pandemic-related factors.

The American Connection Corps (ACC) is the nation's largest fellowship program focused on bridging the digital divide. Led by Lead for America and The American Connection Project, this initiative addresses broadband development and digital inclusion while strengthening our country's next generation of civic leaders. In their first three months, the ACC Fellows have already made significant improvements in bridging the nation's digital divide:

This study examines how municipal governments have constructed the concept of digital equity through textual evidence, the digital equity plans of Kansas City (MO), Portland (OR), San Francisco (CA), and Seattle (WA). Adopting an approach from critical discourse studies, comparative analysis of the texts demonstrates how digital equity plans conceive of digital equity, characterize current problematic circumstances, and prescribe actions to make change.