As of 2016, 38% of Americans only have one choice for true wired broadband.
The FCC defines wired broadband as being able to deliver a minimum of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. These speeds are modest, but sufficient to support modern applications Americans use every day for education, employment, and essential communication.
White House reports state that increasing broadband coverage can enhance local economies and reduce unemployment — especially in low-income communities.
Explore this map for state-level data and statistics about broadband Internet access in all 50 states.
How We Aggregate and Analyze Data
We treat data aggregation the same way a gold panner searches for gold: starting with the “chunky” data and cross-verifying it against severe layers of more granular datasets.
First, we aggregate governmental datasets at the census block level from the FCC and NTIA. Most of the valuable data at this stage is built on FCC form 477, which requires Internet providers to report their network coverage on a biannual basis.
Second, we bring in privatized datasets that leverage our direct relationships with providers. At this stage, we compare governmental data against verified lit addresses and make coverage estimates using mapping logic based on our extensive database of fiber line networks.
Finally, we cross-verify data that passes these tests against third-party datasets acquired from niche data aggregation groups. This includes data from broadband consultancies and mapping groups as well as IP identification from national speed test databases.
This process is time-intensive and expensive, but it allows us to produce the most granular and accurate results available to the public. For more details you can review our data page which outlines our datasets and efforts.