Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiWired Less: Disconnected in Urban America
For many Americans living in urban areas, high-speed Internet access remains elusive.
Much discussion about broadband expansion in the United States
focuses on the rural areas that still lack this essential
infrastructure. As we documented in our earlier report, Five Days on the Digital Dirt Road, residents in rural areas are struggling to live and work without high-speed Internet.
But this rural snapshot only shows a part of the picture of the digital divide in America. Even in some of our most tech-savvy wired cities, millions of people - particularly low-income households, immigrant populations and senior citizens - do not have high-speed Internet in their homes or businesses.
Barriers to Access
For many urban residents, high-speed Internet services, which typically cost $40 to $60 per month, are simply too pricey. Compounding the Internet access problem, many people are unable to afford a computer or lack the skills to navigate the Web.
And just like their rural counterparts, some urban areas have been redlined by Internet service providers that refuse to offer service to communities that may not provide as large a financial return.
Many urban residents are locked out, unable to participate fully in the digital era. They're prevented from applying for jobs, telecommuting, taking online classes or even finishing their homework. It's becoming increasingly clear that Internet connectivity is key to a sound economy and could assist those hit hardest by the economic downturn.
Additionally, the Internet has revolutionized the way everyday people can mobilize, organize and work for social change. It allows people - at least those fortunate enough to have a high-speed connection - to create media with their own voices.
From Coast to Coast
To further understand how the digital divide is affecting our urban areas, Free Press traveled to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. We interviewed dozens of people trying to raise families, go to school, and start businesses using antiquated dial-up service or relying on libraries or community centers for a high-speed connection.
In Washington, where Blackberries are everywhere, only 52 percent of homes are connected to broadband. In total, more than 240,000 D.C. residents are not connected to the Internet at home, and nearly 160,000 have no Internet access at all.
While there are no specific numbers that accurately capture the digital divide in Los Angeles, nearly 16 million people across California do not have high-speed Internet, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The stories from both coasts are a testament to why our leaders in Washington should make bridging the digital divide a national priority.
View all of the stories here.
12 Comments so far
Show AllIt's 10 dollars a month in many cities in Asia which includes fiber optic access.
I did not know anyone in the US still had to use dial up. That's 3rd worldish. It might explain why so many folks are uninformed, folks having to rely on MSM for news explains a lot.
Doesn't seem to be an issue for too many people.
It certainly is a big one for me.
Living on the Big Island means often lots of Aloha
but no justice.
Justice in the terminology of equal access to high
speed internet service. Whereas the wealthy elite
on the Island with their million dollar mansions in
Kona and Waimea enjoy high speed in abundance, the
lesser financially gifted of the East side are left
to dream about DSL coverage for the most part.
Puna, that's where my heart and residence is, is
notoriously under-developed. The roads are likely
better in Eastern Turkey, the communal infrastructures
are comparable to rural Bavaria in the 60ties, even
though those guys had at least their 'Beer-Gardens'.
Last year I filed a complaint with the FCC in regards
to the high speed policies of Hawaiiantel, the local
semi-monopole in internet matters.
Semi-monopole, because You can get a satellite dish
for high speed service for an initial $ 1,500.00 plus
the ridiculous monthly fees of some $ 80 (2007).
Why would I file a complaint?
Because there is an obvious connect between the income
level and internet speed level. Sweden installed high
speed in all public housing facilities to ensure equal
opportunities. Hawai'i which is as of yet still ruled
by wealthy 'Haoles' follows the Bush line. You are poor
because You make bad decisions, or You are dumb or both.
The governor of this state needs to be recalled since
the day she was installed. Money is available for Super
Ferry, military installations and the rich. The 'dumb
ones' can see how they are going to make it.
So here You live in an area that houses the largest part
of the Island population, but no high speed. Why?
Because of the fear that those 'losers' won't be able
to pay for their high speed in the first place. Whom do
I have to tell about a 'Windoze X(tra)P(athetic) machine
that requires 'Auto-Update' activated to avoid instant
virus infection. It's called 'Security Update' and comes
anywhere in the order of 100 to 650 MB. Download that with
31.2 KB/sec, that's what You get from Hawaiiantel dial-up.
Not 56K as possible. As a loser You don't even get the max
bandwith on dial-up. You have to share that with some other
losers. Since the PC downloads security updates in the back
ground, You can go and do Your grocery shopping while Your
e-mail page is loading up.
Which brings me to the understanding that I just have to
accept the fact, that my life time is worth less than that
of the haves.
Well at least I am able to go to commondreams, even though
with the new design it takes about an ice age longer to load.
In conclusion I agree, there is a digital divide as much as
there is a health care divide, a tax divide and a housing
divide. All that looks to me pretty much like 'Divide & Conquer'.
Therefor I decided to take it easy with the internet and instead
go out to the Lava flow and watch the planet and Pele create
new land. Better than internet and cable together.
Define "high speed". Does that mean glass fibre? or just DSL.
Personally, I think DSL is fast enough.
Another unwritten element that the piece omits is how older urban areas, irrespective of income, are often the last to get upgrades. This is not due to potential customers ability to pay or desiring of the product, but due to the time and cost of tearing up streets to lay digital lines.
Thus, a friend of mine whom lives in Los Angeles' semi-rural Topanga Canyon area has fiber optic access; whereas I who lives in an area of town that has been built up since before WW2 (which is old for LA), the quickest available to me is DSL.
It should also be noted that American communications companies are relative laggards compared to their compatriots outside of the USA. I recently spent a month in South Africa and found that I got cell phone service in Kruger National Park, for example. Meanwhile, LA is notorious for cell phone dead zones. What does that tell you?
We just got fiber-optic last week - I do live out in the Boonies, but it is a safer and quieter environment, with the nearest big city about 70 miles away. My local internet-telephone company is 2 blocks away - the only other businesses in town are a garage, couple bars, post office, mini-market/restrant, butcher shop, a tiny bank and a few tourist-traps. DSL cost $75/month - same price for 10 years. Small towns around here are dying out even faster than before - Wal-Mart built on the Interstate ramp (10 miles away) and shut everybody else down.
Yeah, I'd like DSL too - but fat chance. Now I can't even watch broadcasts on-line because they've upgraded for high-speed only. Last year my dial-up worked just fine on internet broadcasts - but that all changed. It also takes forever to open pages with tons of crap scattered all over. At least commondreams is easy to access - everything else is pretty much hopeless. Good sites keep changing their home pages - and making them ever harder to use with dial-up. So I don't bother with them anymore - I just can't. But what do you expect in a country with millions homeless, millions in prison, millions without healthcare, millions more without dental care, and more and more millions (especially women, children, and the elderly) living in abject poverty? Sure seem to be plenty of money for war and weapons though - and bailouts of financial criminals...
Here's a clip and paste of the first two paragraphs of an article on how bad things are in Europe by comparison...
EU wants better high-speed Internet access in rural regions
BRUSSELS, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Tuesday asked European Union (EU) member states and regions to place more emphasis on communication technologies and high-speed Internet connectivity in rural areas.
While an average 93 percent of EU citizens enjoy access to a high-speed online connection, the figure is only 70 percent in rural areas on average.
Am I paranoid or is conservative America purposely keeping its Bible Belt constituency ignorant?
Why is "Free Press" using proprietary media formats?
Dial-up is still pretty cheap (10 or 11 dollars a month).
I think we're being pushed too often to have the fastest, shiniest gadgets.
Libraries sometimes offer Internet access, but most days there's a long wait.
I've been curious about the June digital T.V. switch-over.
How many low-income people will lose access to commercial T.V.?
(I'm actually kinda looking forward to losing mine!!)
The government coupons only give you a discount, you still need to buy the box, then you might need to add an intenna on top of that.
The costs all add up when you are trying to put food on the table and pay rent.
Can't more and more T.V. programming be seen online?
So we'll still need high speed Internet access to stay plugged in.
That cabin in the woods with no electricity looks more and more attractive.
So quiet, so idyllic. No screamingly offensive T.V. commercials.
Not even a mute button.
Dialup in rural America costs $19.95 to $29.95, and broadband, if it is available costs fifty to seventy five. When you make nothing, this is not "cheap." No one I know even has TV, there being no broadcast TV here. It must be nice to be so rich that dialup seems cheap. Without internet access, people are basically helpless in the modern world, especially so far from services.
And yet in most other nations, for $10 a month you'll get broadband access that you'd normally pay $40 or higher here in the USA.