Connected Nation is a national leader in broadband expansion programs, including:
- State Broadband Programs
- Community Engagement and Certification
- Technology Training
- Digital Inclusion
- School Technology Assessments
- Broadband Mapping and Engineering
8.3 million households (7%) are in the Digital Divide, but this problem may potentially impact as many as 12.3 million total households, or 34.7 million U.S. citizens.
6.6 million rural households (29%) do not have broadband.
Populated areas without access to high-speed internet, or broadband, are falling behind as part of the Digital Divide.
Connected Nation (CN) has analyzed residential broadband coverage data to determine areas where broadband is reported as being available, but CN has low confidence in all the households in that area being able to get broadband.
A low confidence rating does not mean that CN believes there is not residential broadband available in that census block or that the provider-filed data is incorrect, only that it warrants investigation to confirm whether or not broadband is available to all locations within the census block.
109.9 million households (93%) are reported to have broadband.
16.4 million rural households (71%) are reported to have broadband.
Connected Nation (CN) has analyzed residential broadband coverage data to determine areas where broadband is listed as being available, but CN has low confidence in all the households in that area being able to get broadband. The red on the map shows the low confidence areas.
A low data confidence rating does not mean that CN believes there is not residential broadband available in that census block or that the provider-filed data is incorrect, only that it warrants investigation to confirm whether or not broadband is available to all locations within the census block.
Data Sources
FCC Form 477 Broadband Deployment Data as of June 30, 2017, released September 10, 2018. https://www.fcc.gov/general/broadband-deployment-data-fcc-form-477
United States Census Bureau, 2010 household statistics by census block. https://www.census.gov
Broadband: Currently, the FCC defines broadband (high-speed internet) at speeds of at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload.
Confidence Rating: Connected Nation developed a methodology to analyze all the areas where broadband is reported in the FCC Form 477 Deployment Data, to determine the level of data confidence that exists in each census block, and whether further investigation on the presence of broadband to all locations in a census block is warranted.
Digital Divide: Populated areas without access to broadband.
FCC: The Federal Communications Commission. The FCC regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. An independent U.S. government agency overseen by Congress, the Commission is the federal agency responsible for implementing and enforcing America’s communications law and regulations. https://www.fcc.gov
FCC Form 477 Deployment Data: The FCC collects broadband deployment (access/coverage areas) from internet service providers (ISPs) twice a year through the Form 477 filing. This data is aggregated and published at the state and national levels. https://www.fcc.gov/general/broadband-deployment-data-fcc-form-477
Low Data Confidence Rating: This means that CN has lower confidence that the published residential broadband data is available to all the households in a specific area. A low data confidence rating does not mean that CN believes there is not residential broadband available in that census block or that the provider-filed data is incorrect, only that it warrants investigation to confirm whether or not broadband is available to all locations within the census block.
Rural Area: An area is deemed rural with criteria set by the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce as indicated in the federal register on urban area criteria. The term “urban area” refers to both urban areas and urban clusters. The term “rural” encompasses all population, housing, and territory not included within an urban area. https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/fedreg/fedregv76n164.pdf