At the Personal Democracy Forum (PDF) in New York earlier this week, a new organization was formed called “Internet for Everyone”.   This is a new group focused on promoting broadband access for all Americans.  It is an interesting mix of non-profits, activists and a few companies.  They have organized around a set of principles that include the following:

I certainly see these as laudable goals at a high level and while some of the specific wording gives me pause, on the whole these are goals Verizon is committed to as well.   In looking at what the group is focused on, however, I think there is a tendency to mix up access with connectedness.   In California for example, thanks to the recent report of the California Broadband Task Force, we know that 96 percent of Californians have access to broadband.  Yet, only about half of all Californians actually have signed up for a broadband connection.  Further, half of the citizens of California (or homes of citizens more accurately) can get access to broadband at speeds of 10 mbps or faster.  

Not every state has this kind of deployment pattern.  Some do not have broadband as widely available for example.  But in general, looking at all the numbers that are available, it appears that something on the order of around six percent of all Americans can’t get access to broadband.  You could argue that satellite broadband can reach many of these people too but I accept that this is not as simple as it sounds.  With two-way satellite broadband connections, a technician must install equipment at the house and in some rural areas, this may take some time.   And in some of these situations where landline broadband is not available WiFi networks or cellular broadband may be accessible.  

But on the whole, we know there is still work to do to get broadband deployed in all areas of the country.  That is why we have committed to working with Connected Nation to help promote deployment.  It is a very successful program and we have been working in a number of states including West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio with Connected Nation, state officials and local leaders to identify gaps in deployment and promote solutions.

But here is where I think things can get confused.  Broadband is available to most Americans (well north of 90 percent and probably close to 94 percent of all citizens).  But today only about 54 percent or so of all homes have broadband connections.  The technology is available in many cases but people have not yet signed up for the service.  Why?

First, we should understand that the uptake of broadband in this country has been very rapid.  To quote John Horrigan of the Pew Internet and Society Project:

Since broadband first became widely available to consumers in the late 1990s, adoption has hit the halfway point faster than most other information and communication technologies. It took 18 years for the personal computer to reach 50% of Americans, 18 years for color TV, 15 years for the cell phone, 14 years for the video cassette recorder, and 10 and one half years for the compact disc player. It has taken about 10 years for broadband to reach 50% of adults in their homes.

That said, we agree with the Internet for Everyone coalition that broadband is a vital technology for society and our economy.  So again why isn’t everyone connected?  The reasons are complex. 

While certainly some people may find cost to be a barrier, it does not appear that the price of broadband access per se is a significant impediment for most people according to research done by a number of groups, including the Pew Trust.   That doesn’t mean it is not a factor at all because clearly the poor are less connected to the Internet and have far fewer broadband connections than other Americans. 

But the evidence is that the reasons people do not get broadband connections are varied and not usually related to cost.   They include the fact that broadband is available at work for most people and they appear to be doing what they need to online at work while not accessing the Internet much at home.   Some do not use broadband due to a belief that there is no compelling content they must have access to.   There is also a segment of the population who appear to fear some of the dangers that admittedly do lurk on the Internet, something we at Verizon are trying to do something about.  The lack of familiarity with computers and the lack of PC ownership (computers are costly for some) is another factor.  All of these challenges have been studied by the Pew Trust, the Yankee Group, Forrester, and the Consumer Electronics Association among others.  The CEA report in particular has some interesting findings in this regard. 

We have made great progress in deploying broadband and in getting Americans to adopt broadband technology. But the challenges we have in moving from where we are today to a world where most Americans are using high speed access at home as well as at work are not simple.  The factors that encourage people to get broadband connections are varied.  But I think there are several ways we can help encourage more Americans to get connected through broadband.    For one thing, we can concentrate on the demand side, developing more applications and services that give people more compelling reasons to get connected.  Again, John Horrigan makes this point and we have noted often that broadband is a platform that can help improve health care, improve energy efficiency and expand learning opportunities.   These kinds of applications can provide more reasons to want to go online.

But I also believe that we may be looking too narrowly at what broadband is and how people prefer to access the Internet.  For example, recent research shows that African Americans and Hispanics are much more active in using wireless devices to connect to the Internet and data services than whites.   It may be that mobile broadband is as important to some segments of society as landline is and we should not forget these services as we think about how well we are doing in getting more Americans to use broadband.

We have more work to do and some segments of society are more connected than others.  But the glass is far more full than empty.   All of that said, the ultimate goal of the Internet for Everyone coalition – promoting activities to ensure that all Americans get broadband connections and use the Internet and the web – is a laudable one we agree is very important.