Benton Institute for Broadband & Society - Daily Yonder

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Sarah Melotte

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Wed, 02/14/2024

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Daily Digest 2/13/2024

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Tue, 02/13/2024

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Analysis

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Federal Communications Commission

Affordable Connectivity Program (was Emergency Broadband Benefit Program)

Research

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https://dailyyonder.com/commentary-broadband-subsidy-enrollment-ends-today-milli…

Broadband Subsidy Enrollment Ends Today; Millions Are at Risk of Losing Internet

zwalker@benton.org — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 19:23:00 +0000

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) will freeze enrollment today (February 7, 2024) because funds are running out for this enormously effective federal program that helps people pay their internet bills. Already, roughly 23 million low-income households across America have received notices that the price of their internet service will go up by as much as $30 in a few months—and that includes more than 8.7 million households in the United States’ heartland region. Despite a bipartisan majority of voters supporting the ACP (62% of Republicans and 96% of Democrats), millions of households in the heartland will be at risk of no longer being able to pay for broadband internet service if Congress allows funding to run out. With one in every six American households set to have the cost of their internet service go up, Congress can and must renew the ACP. We have the tools to solve this 21st century challenge, if we can find the political will to make it so.

[Chhaya Kapadia is chief of staff for New America’s Open Technology Institute. Chris Sadler is a former education data and privacy fellow at the institute.]

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Chhaya Kapadia

Chris Sadler

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Thu, 02/08/2024

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Daily Digest 2/7/2024

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Wed, 02/07/2024

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Federal Communications Commission

Affordable Connectivity Program (was Emergency Broadband Benefit Program)

https://dailyyonder.com/planning-for-a-broadband-breakthrough-rural-illinois-cou…

Planning for a ‘Broadband Breakthrough’ – Rural Illinois Counties Prepare for ‘Once-in-a-Generation’ Funding Opportunity

zwalker@benton.org — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:48:34 +0000

Peggy Braffet and her husband think about broadband a lot. When guests show up to their pick-your-own berry farm, they sometimes expect to be able to pay with credit cards, but the Braffets' slow internet connection won't allow it. The Braffet’s frustration, compounded by the fact that neighbors just a half-mile away have fast internet, reflects that of many rural Illinois residents. An influx of federal dollars included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 may offer a path forward, and some Illinois county and business leaders are readying themselves for investment with a new program from the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society. Within Illinois, internet service providers, called ISPs, will submit applications to help pay for the construction of new internet lines. Counties that went through the Broadband Breakthrough program created plans that outlined how they’d target infrastructure money, giving the counties and their chosen ISP partners an advantage in the application process, said Adrianne B. Furniss, the Benton Institute’s executive director. In Hancock County, at least two internet service providers have already applied for and will continue to apply for broadband expansion grants as the federal dollars become available, said Samantha Harnack, executive director of Hancock County Economic Development. Those relationships, and having a concrete plan in place for expansion, are key to being approved, she said. “The state is 100% not going to give anyone a grant that doesn’t have their ducks in a row,” Harnack said. “The federal government, same thing.”

Benton Content:

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A project in Illinois is designed to help some rural counties take their best shot at winning their fair share of broadband funding

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Will Wright

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Thu, 02/01/2024

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 1/31/2024

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Wed, 01/31/2024

Coverage Type:

Digital Equity/Digital Inclusion

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program

State

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https://dailyyonder.com/how-much-money-can-broadband-bring-a-rural-community-by-…

How Much Money Can Broadband Bring a Rural Community? By Some Estimates, Millions.

zwalker@benton.org — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 20:54:04 +0000

As the federal government distributes $42.5 billion to expand broadband internet access across America and its territories, some local leaders are asking themselves: How much economic impact could faster internet create? A report by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society estimates that, across 15 agricultural counties in Illinois, faster internet speeds could boost production of corn and soybeans by over $100 million annually. The report argues that faster internet will allow farmers to more precisely plant, fertilize and harvest crops — a method called “precision agriculture.” A tool included in the report provides estimates of increased corn and soybean revenue in each of the 15 counties. Bryan Stevens, a corn and soybean farmer and board president of the Hancock County Farm Bureau, who participated in the Broadband Breakthrough program, said he sees increased broadband access as a serious factor for farmers’ pocketbooks. “I can see how they can come up with these numbers based on efficiency,” Stevens said. “The less time I waste in the spring or in the fall … the better off I am.”

Benton Content:

https://www.benton.org/publications/broadband-breakthrough

Teaser:

How much money could faster broadband bring rural communities?

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Author:

Will Wright

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Wed, 01/31/2024

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Daily Digest 1/30/2024

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Tue, 01/30/2024

Coverage Type:

Digital Equity/Digital Inclusion

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program

Infrastructure

Research

Headlines Specific Topic:

https://dailyyonder.com/analysis-rural-families-need-broadband-subsidy-program-m…

Rural Families Need Broadband Subsidy Program More but Use It Less

benton — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 17:52:10 +0000

While the future of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) remains uncertain, it is worth reviewing how the program fared in rural America. Home broadband adoption rates in rural areas have historically been 5-10 percentage points lower than those in urban locations. This is due partly to lower internet availability but also higher monthly costs in rural geographies. So, were rural households, with lower broadband adoption rates and higher monthly bills more likely to embrace the program? The short answer is no. Using county-level data on ACP subscribers for each month of the program and estimates of the number of eligible households in each county, it shows that rural households were far less likely to participate than urban households. Even more tellingly, the gap grew dramatically over the life of the program. As the ACP began in January 2022, only about 13% of eligible households in the most rural counties signed up. This was well below the 21% rate for eligible urban households. These highly-rural counties saw their participation rate grow to 28% by late 2023, while urban households increased to 46%. So, the rural-urban ACP participation gap increased from 8 percentage points (21% – 13%) to nearly 20 percentage points (46% – 28%) over the roughly two-year life of the program. A smaller gap (and increase) was seen for less rural counties, from 3 percentage points in January 2022 to 9 percentage points by late 2023. Rural areas were disadvantaged by 1) lower numbers of internet providers advertising the program and 2) fewer civic organizations like libraries or non-profits spreading word about the program and helping people sign up.

[Brian Whitacre is a professor and Neustadt Chair in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University. Howard Song is an undergraduate at Oklahoma State.]

Benton Content:

Teaser:

Rural areas were disadvantaged by 1) lower numbers of internet providers advertising the program and 2) fewer civic organizations like libraries or non-profits spreading word about the program and helping people sign up.

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https://dailyyonder.com/research-and-analysis-rural-internet-subscribers-pay-mor…

Author:

Brian Whitacre

Howard Song

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Fri, 01/19/2024

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Daily Digest 1/18/2024

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Research and Analysis: Rural Internet Subscribers Pay More, New Data Confirms

zwalker@benton.org — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 19:24:44 +0000

Rural advocates have high hopes for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. While it primarily focuses on providing infrastructure to places that are “unserved” and “underserved”, there is also a requirement for states to describe how their plans to award funds will address broadband affordability. Both are important topics for rural residents. The most recent data we have show dramatic rural-urban gaps in both broadband access and adoption. It’s widely recognized that affordability plays a large role in why households remain offline. But because there is no federally collected data on broadband price that includes both rural and urban areas, very few studies have been able to quantify the price differences across these geographies. BroadbandNow (an independent broadband availability website) went through the process of gathering pricing data from over 4,000 terrestrial broadband providers in late 2020 and compiled them into a Zipcode-level database that is publicly available. The data show that in late 2020, the average monthly cost of a 25/3 broadband connection was nearly $13 higher in rural Zip codes.

Benton Content:

Teaser:

Will funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act help close the price gap that keeps some families from using broadband?

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Author:

Brian Whitacre

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Wed, 11/29/2023

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Daily Digest 11/28/2023

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Tue, 11/28/2023

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National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program

Infrastructure

https://dailyyonder.com/black-churches-play-a-key-role-in-connecting-rural-commu…

Research

Black Churches Play a Key Role in Connecting Rural Communities to Broadband Internet

zwalker@benton.org — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 17:17:32 +0000

Early in the pandemic, Black churches often struggled to make the switch to remote services for lack of broadband in their area. Even if a church had the wherewithal to livestream services or hold meetings on video platforms, congregants lacked the connections to take advantage. A 2020 Pew Research Center study showed that while 92 percent of evangelical Christians and 86 percent of mainline Protestants could watch services online, only 73 percent of worshippers in the historically Black traditions said the same. Today in the rural South, 38 percent of Black households do not have access to broadband, compared with 23 percent of white households, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Black clergy and faith leaders in the rural South have been working for years to bridge the digital divide in their communities and congregations, and the Affordable Connectivity Program, a pandemic-era federal program, gave those efforts a boost by offering discounted internet access. But fewer than half of the estimated 49 million Americans who are eligible have enrolled, and now questions loom about the program’s long-term funding by Congress.

Benton Content:

Teaser:

Black church advocates are working together to bridge the digital divide in their communities through a pandemic-era federal program that offers discounted internet access. But whether the program will see long-lasting funding remains unclear.

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Author:

Adelle Banks

Yonat Shimron

Send date:

Fri, 11/10/2023

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Daily Digest 11/9/2023

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Thu, 11/09/2023

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Community Anchor Institutions

Affordable Connectivity Program (was Emergency Broadband Benefit Program)

Adoption

Individuals who are Members of a Racial or Ethnic Minority Group

https://dailyyonder.com/a-rural-calling-peggy-schaffer/2023/10/25/

A Rural Calling: Peggy Schaffer

benton — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 20:10:54 +0000

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, high-speed internet was a luxury to which to aspire. Can you remember such a time? Rural Americans certainly can. Fortunately, today, for many but not all, triple-digit Mbps download speeds are available and reasonably affordable. Peggy Schaffer is among the broadband advocate-actualizers who’ve helped relegate those days to a faint memory. Schaffer – a resident of the rural Maine town of Vassalboro, midway between Portland and Bangor – has served in multiple roles in advancing rural broadband in her home state and beyond. She was co-chair of the Maine Broadband Coalition, director of the ConnectMaine Authority and served on the State Broadband Leaders Network. She’s now a board member of the American Association for Public Broadband and a strategic adviser to VETRO FiberMap. She’s assumed these duties because she recognized some years ago what high-speed internet access could afford and what its absence would curtail. She recognized it would be every bit as important, if not more so, for rural residents as urban.

Benton Content:

Teaser:

A women of many careers and paths, Peggy Schaffer dedicated herself to bringing broadband to every corner of Maine.

Source:

https://dailyyonder.com/for-rural-communities-broadband-expansion-is-no-single-s…

Author:

Taylor Sisk

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Mon, 10/30/2023

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Daily Digest 10/27/2023

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Fri, 10/27/2023

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For Rural Communities, Broadband Expansion Is No Single Thing

dclay@benton.org — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 16:13:51 +0000

Without reliable, affordable internet, rural communities have limited economic opportunities and lack access to education, healthcare, and many other services. Broadband expansion is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, said Adrianne Furniss, director of the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society. Federal money is vital for rural broadband because without the subsidy, there is little to no incentive for internet companies to lay fiber optic cables in rural areas. It would never be financially feasible for them to bring high-speed internet to some of these communities. But even once the infrastructure exists, not all rural residents will have access to the internet. “Everybody says the problem in rural areas is access and no infrastructure and the problem in urban areas is affordability,” said Furniss, “The answer is affordability is as much of a problem in rural areas as it is in urban areas. And in fact, people are paying more for worse service in rural areas.” The Benton Institute is helping communities create plans for broadband expansion, and part of that is finding alternative service providers that are able to provide competition for the larger players. “When Frontier is the only game in town, we look next door and see whether there’s a co-op provider that might edge out into your area.,” said Furniss. “One of the reasons I’m in love with electric co-ops and telephone co-ops is that they, the community owns the network,” said Furniss. “They don’t care if the return on investment takes 10-plus years. They’re ok with that. The big guys want their return in three years.”

Benton Content:

Teaser:

Subsidized broadband programs are vital for rural broadband expansion.

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Author:

Ilana Newman

Send date:

Thu, 09/28/2023

Daily Digest:

Daily Digest 9/27/2023

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Publish Date:

Wed, 09/27/2023

Coverage Type:

Digital Equity/Digital Inclusion

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program

Infrastructure

Wireless Internet

Headlines Specific Topic:

https://dailyyonder.com/the-need-for-speed-rural-users-tend-to-have-slower-inter…

The Need for Speed: Rural Users Tend to Have Slower Internet Connections

dclay@benton.org — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 21:58:08 +0000

As the federal government, along with states, gets ready to make a once-in-a-lifetime investment in broadband infrastructure, the concept of the digital divide remains somewhat the same as it was back in the mid-1990s, when the term was coined. Namely, who has access to the internet and who does not? Increasingly, being on the “right” side of the divide is moving beyond a yes/no access at home and more toward determining whether a user’s connection satisfies their needs. While there are areas with no connectivity whatsoever, increasingly the question is becoming: Who is using the internet at faster speeds? Are connections symmetrical—where download and upload speeds are similar? Or are most internet users driving down a six-lane paved road (faster download speeds) and driving back on a dirt road (slower upload speeds)? To address these questions, we looked at speed test results from the Speedtest by Ookla Global Fixed Network Performance Maps and the latest American Community Survey (ACS) 2017-2021 from the US Census Bureau. Overall, as the share of a tract’s population is more rural, the average download and upload speeds are slower.

[Roberto Gallardo is vice president for engagement at Purdue University, director of the Purdue Center for Regional Development, and an associate professor in the Agricultural Economics Department.]

Benton Content:

Teaser:

A new study based on individual users’ internet speed-tests offers one more way to measure the digital divide.

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