A new report from the National Association of Counties reports two-thirds of U.S. counties have average internet speeds slower than broadband.
The Federal Communications Commission estimates 21 million U.S. residents, or 6.5%, lack access to high-speed internet. Yet, according to a new report by Route Fifty, that number has long been criticized by government officials as inaccurate.
The National Association of Counties study used a crowdsourced app to test internet speeds, reporting roughly 65% of counties, including some in the Capital Region, are averaging speeds below the FCC’s broadband definition.
The app conducted more than 99,000 tests on cellphone and fixed-wireless connections in 2,391 counties between March 2019 and February 6, 2020, and found many counties were not meeting the FCC’s broadband mark of download speeds at 25 megabits per second and upload speeds of 3 mbps.
About half of the country’s midsized counties—populations between 50,000 and 500,000—reported speeds below that benchmark. Nearly 20% of counties with populations over 500,000 weren’t meeting it, either.
The report comes as national and state-level efforts have been announced to expand broadband connectivity. In January, the FCC announced 6 million rural sites could qualify for a share of $20.4 billion put into the Rural Digital Opportunity fund, including 188,000 unspecified sites in Louisiana. Read the full report.
