New Research Indicates Nearly Half of U.S. Residents do not Meet Minimum Broadband Speed Standard

Contact CWA Communications: Candice Johnson and Chuck Porcari, 202-434-1168, cjohnson@cwa-union.org and cporcari@cwa-union.org

(Washington, D.C.) — According to new research released today by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), 49 percent of U.S. residents do not meet the FCC’s minimum broadband standard of 4 megabits per second (mbps) download and 1 mbps upload. CWA’s annual Speed Matters report on Internet speeds in the United States indicates little progress has been made since the report was first issued in 2007.

“CWA applauds the FCC for its commitment to improving access to high-speed internet in America,” said Larry Cohen, president, Communications Workers of America. “Improving broadband deployment, connection speeds, and adoption will help facilitate job and business growth across the nation.”

This year’s Speed Matters report shows that between 2009 and 2010, the median download Internet speed in the United States has increased by only 0.5 megabits per second (mbps) from 2.5 mbps in 2009 to 3.0 mbps this year, while the median upload speed has barely increased from 487 kbps to 595 kbps. At this rate, it will take the United States 60 years to catch up with current Internet speeds in South Korea, the country with the fastest Internet connections.[1] The number of years to reach South Korea’s current standards has quadrupled from last year, as improvements are being made at a rapid rate there and progress in the United States has been fairly stagnant.

The Speed Matters Speed Test, a project of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), measures the speed of a user’s Internet connection. The 2010 report is based on aggregated data from more than 375,000 Internet users who took the online test between June 2009 and August 2010. The test, a full list of 2010 state rankings and a comparison to 2009 rankings can be found at www.speedmatters.org.

Northeastern states topped the chart again this year, with many western and southern states staying on the bottom. The five fastest states according to the study are: Delaware (13.4 mbps), Massachusetts (9.3 mbps), New Jersey (8.6 mbps), Maryland (7.6 mbps) and New York (7.5 mbps). Among the slowest states were: Montana (1.2 mbps), Wyoming (1.5 mbps), Arkansas (2.3 mbps) and Mississippi (2.4 mbps).

“Speed Matters on the Internet, enabling innovations in telemedicine, education, economic development, energy conservation, and job creation,” said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. “Today's results highlight the need for investment in higher speed broadband networks to support America's critical applications. That's why moving forward on the National Broadband Plan is our top priority at the FCC.”

Lack of access to high-speed Internet reflects a persistent digital divide among Americans. Geography and income too often indicate whether someone has access to high-speed Internet. In urban and suburban areas, 70 percent of households subscribe to broadband, with only 50 percent of rural households subscribing to the service. For Americans who make more than $75,000 a year, 87 percent get broadband while only 45 percent of Americans that earn less than $30,000 subscribe.

In order to bring all Americans into the 21st century, CWA, the Sierra Club and the NAACP joined together with the FCC at an event in Washington, D.C. to support the timely implementation of the National Broadband Plan.

“Every American, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, income or geographic location should have affordable access to high-speed Internet. This is essential to economic growth and will help advance and improve our global competitiveness,” said Hilary Shelton, Director of the Washington Office, NAACP and the Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy. “Unfortunately, fragmented government programs and uneven private sector responses to build out Internet access have left a digital divide across the country—denying America’s promise of equal access to opportunity for all.”

The National Broadband Plan lays a framework for all Americans to have access to affordable, high-speed Internet, which will stimulate economic growth, spur job creation, create sustainable communities and boost our capabilities in education, healthcare and more via the Internet.

“Broadband helps build sustainable communities by eliminating the barriers of distance, so people in rural areas can have unlimited access to information and the 21^st century networks needed to strengthen and grow the economy,” said Carl Pope, Board Chair of the Sierra Club. “It helps conserve energy by eliminating travel-related carbon emissions, and promotes energy efficiency through broadband-enabled smart grids and smart meters.”

The National Broadband Plan closely aligns with many CWA initiatives such as supporting a 1 gigabit per second advancement to schools, libraries and medical facilities and expanding the use of the existing Universal Service Fund subsides to close the digital divide so that low-income and rural families can have access to broadband Internet.

** Research release will be streamed live online at: http://www.speedmatters.org/2010reportrelease

** To access the full 2010 Speed Matters report, visit: http://www.SpeedMatters.org/2010Report

About Speed Matters and the Speed Test

Launched in September 2006, Speed Matters is a project of the Communications Workers of America. CWA launched Speed Matters to bring attention to the issue of Internet connectivity and to encourage elected officials to implement policies that will guarantee every American access to all of the promises of the Information Age. To report the real-time connection speed, the Speed Test sends an HTTP request to the nearest server and measures the time that it takes to receive a response. The test does not measure the actual transfer speed of a file over the Internet; uncontrolled variables, such as the content provider's server load and bandwidth, would interfere with accurate data collection. Information included in the report is based on data gathered from June 2009 to August 2010.

About the Communications Workers of America

The Communications Workers of America represents more than 700,000 workers employed in telecommunications, the media, public sector, manufacturing, health care and airlines.

[1] International rankings of Internet connection speeds are from www.SpeedTest.net.