Latest Pew Study Shows 70 Percent of US Has Broadband. But Access Is Still Unequal

[Commentary] Pew released survey results showing that the percentage of Americans with home “high speed broadband” connections has ticked up from 66 to 70 percent since April 2012. Pew calls this a “small but statistically significant rise.” The news of an overall rise in “high-speed broadband” adoption will likely be trumpeted by America’s giant communications companies and policymakers as the bright spot: “We’re not doing so badly!” But before we start celebrating, it’s a good idea to look closely at the results.

For starters, Pew’s results demonstrate that the Digital Divide is persistent, with close correlations between socioeconomic status and home Internet access. The report is also a reminder that policymakers use the words “high-speed broadband” to include everything other than dialup access, which is far too broad a definition. It’s telling that at least 83 percent of people with smartphones also have a high-speed Internet access connection at home — because of data caps and high-volume data like HD video, these technologies complement, and don’t replace, one another. If these services were affordable, everyone would have both. But the marketplace for high-capacity (200 GB per month), high-download speed (100 Mbps per month) wired connections is increasingly dominated by a series of local cable monopolies that can charge whatever they want. Bottom line: As a result of consolidation and deregulation, many Americans pay too much for Internet access services that are second-class — because they aren’t fiber to the home — and not enough Americans can afford service. According to the report, almost 90 percent of college graduates have high-speed Internet access at home, as do households earning more than $75,000. Compare that to only 37 percent of those who have not completed high school — as well as 54 percent of households with income less than $30,000 — that have such access. Pew points out that many blacks and Latinos have smartphones — bringing their “high-speed broadband” adoption numbers almost equal to whites – if smartphone access is included in “broadband.”

[Susan Crawford is currently a professor at the Cardozo School of Law and an adjunct professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University]