Cleveland Scene
The Digital Divide: An Isolating Problem in Cleveland
Based on 2018 statistics from the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, Cleveland (OH) ranks 33rd in the nation when it comes to completely unconnected households (27.42%), and ranks 33rd when it comes to homes without a wire line (44%). Cincinnati (OH) ranked 158th out of 625. About 17% of households have no broadband of any type. About 30% of households lack a wireline: fiber, cable or DSL. The city ranks 211st when it comes to those metrics. Solving the problem is taking many forms. Local libraries and community organizations offer computer labs and digital literacy training.
State Laws Allowed AT&T to Exclude Cleveland's Poorest Neighborhoods From High-Speed Internet Service
Internet download speeds are glacial once you get into neighborhoods like Glenville in Cleveland (OH), where AT&T willfully avoided rolling out its U-Verse service a few years back. The company has been accused of "digital redlining," specifically of leaving the poorest neighborhoods out of its infrastructure improvements in cities like Cleveland, Toledo (OH), Dayton (OH), Louisville (KY), Detroit (MI) and Milwaukee (WI).
Ashbury Senior Computer Community Center works closely with Connect Your Community, a local organization that in 2016 began a comprehensive investigation into the real story behind Cleveland's incongruous internet access — the digital divide. The group ended up uncovering a web of discriminatory practices authorized in full by the state of Ohio.