Reality Check: America?s Broadband Gap
The broadband gap in the United States is still very real — contentions that it has been closed were disproved by the FCC's Sixth Broadband Penetration Report, released last month.
As a recent New York Times editorial points out, during the Bush administration Republicans hung their hats on the widely disseminated data point that 99 percent of Americans have access to broadband Internet.
This year, however, the FCC brought the definition of broadband into the 21st century — now defined as an upload speed of at least 1 megabit per second and a download speed of at least 4 megabits per second — and the picture is not nearly as rosy.
Using the new definition, last month's report found that between 14 and 24 million Americans do not have broadband access. Depending on the actual number, that means up to 8 percent of Americans can't access high-speed Internet.
The Communications Workers of America supports the FCC's National Broadband Plan and its framework for providing universal high-speed Internet, expanding technological opportunity in low-income communities, and bringing one gigabyte capacity to schools, libraries, and hospitals.
Sixth Broadband Deployment Report (FCC)
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