30% Of Americans Don't Have Internet Access

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It's 2013, how can this even be possible? People in Siberia have better internet access than that. :eek:

Platforms for jobs, government and other services are increasingly moving online, but 30 percent of Americans do not have an Internet connection to access to those resources, a new Census Bureau report says.
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Meh. I don't see this is a problem really. I'd wager a very large portion of that 30% are people that choose not to have internet. I know several people (mostly older) that just have no interest in it. As hard as that is for people like us to understand, there are a lot out there that just have no use for it at least they don't think they do. And when you consider anybody can go to the library and use the internet for free, I don't see this as an epidemic where people are being denied access.
 
Why is there any surprise? Computers are expensive, and internet access even more so, and in America there are huge distances to cover to provide the infrastructure. That costs a lot of money.
 
I know a lot of people that don't have internet. Mostly the older people (well, above 40ish). It's not that they don't want it, they just don't need it. Some have tried it, and just didn't use it that much. Others have no interest. There is nothing that they'd do. They can have someone else look up something or go to someone else's house to fill out a form or print something out... It doesn't justify the monthly cost.

My Grandpa has the internet (high speed), and rarely uses it. But, when he does need it, it's there and it's fast. He does email, the occasional search, weather...

I do see more and more services being internet enabled, which is bringing more people online (Netflix, online banking, social security services, gaming, Skype and other VoIP, etc.).. These services are creating more of a demand for the network. Sadly, there is more demand and some companies are capping traffic and keeping speeds low... :(
 
It's possible because they stopped rolling out high speed internet to rural areas 10 years ago. My parents live in rural WI, and the telcoms were upgrading the phone lines ~15 years ago, and kept telling my parents that DSL should be available within a year or two. Never happened.

Their only option for high speed is satellite, which isn't really an option. So 56k is the other option...yuck.
 
pcjunkie said:
No XB1 for you!
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LOL! Ouch. Of course, there aren't too many people that own a gaming console that don't have internet (even if they don't use the online features, they still have the Internet).
 
I wonder what the percentage is for television owners and phone subscribers these days. There's always going to be generation gaps with technology. When television came out, there were a bunch who felt they didn't need it. Those generation probably all but died out, so most of us have television now. Ditto standard red television versus hi-def television gap. And ditto internet gap.
 
I live in a rural county. There are many places we do not have high speed internet. Time Warner only runs through a corner of our county. I live in a small town in the center of the county. Thankfully I am near a Century Link hub and I can get DSL, but that is distance limited. The highest I can get at this time is 10mbs. We have looked at some house to buy around the county and I would not consider them because they do not have access to any high speed internet.
 
MacLeod said:
Meh. I don't see this is a problem really. I'd wager a very large portion of that 30% are people that choose not to have internet. I know several people (mostly older) that just have no interest in it. As hard as that is for people like us to understand, there are a lot out there that just have no use for it at least they don't think they do. And when you consider anybody can go to the library and use the internet for free, I don't see this as an epidemic where people are being denied access.
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Internet access isn't even an option for many miles where I live at. I don't live on an island, or anything like that. Interstate 95 is less than 20 miles from me. Cellphones don't work here unless on analog which doesn't support internet. 3G, 4G, Iphone; what is that? They tell us that the telecommunication corporations don't have the resources to install internet here. Yet, every local college requires that you have internet access to attend and no campus dorms.

So yea, some people might not want it, but a lot more can't get it at all because America is too poor to install it according to our local government.
 
Ur_Mom said:
LOL! Ouch. Of course, there aren't too many people that own a gaming console that don't have internet (even if they don't use the online features, they still have the Internet).
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Bullshit, plenty of people out there with gaming consoles and no Internet. Go to any low income housing development and count the consoles... Plenty of people in this country who can't afford Internet that will still buy their kids a console, plenty of homes with no computers with consoles too.

All you need for a console is a TV and a game to play. To make a claim like that shows how out of touch you are with reality in this country.
 
Computers are cheap -- anyone else who says otherwise just doesn't know what they are talking about. I could work 1 week at a minimum wage job and have enough to go and buy a brand new cheap laptop from walmart. (nobody said cheap equated to good or fashionable)

Bandwidth (or lack thereof) is what's choking our nation. Look at what we pay for data vs other countries,. There is the factor of distance we have to cover - but as one of the worlds super power that shouldn't be a problem (we just choose to put all of our money into stupid wars and hand outs)

This is probably old data - but the point is still valid:
1003-biz-BROADBANDweb.gif


When companies like AT&T, Verizon, and other large cable companies milk the consumer for cash and place stupid low limits for a product that essentially costs them little to nothing to keep producing, you start to get the idea. I'm not saying bandwidth should be free - but in the digital age, paying $100 dollars for 10GB of data is just fucking stupid.

My grandma has a land line and that's IT -- hell she still has an old school 27" Tube Tv (watching modern day broadcasts on it with the screen chopped is hilarious) It's all just a factor of age for a large part of these statistics -- as a 31 year old male, I couldn't give two shits about twitter, instagram, or whatever the hell else the kids are into these days.
 
collegeboy69us said:
Computers are cheap -- anyone else who says otherwise just doesn't know what they are talking about. I could work 1 week at a minimum wage job and have enough to go and buy a brand new cheap laptop from walmart. (nobody said cheap equated to good or fashionable)

Bandwidth (or lack thereof) is what's choking our nation. Look at what we pay for data vs other countries,. There is the factor of distance we have to cover - but as one of the worlds super power that shouldn't be a problem (we just choose to put all of our money into stupid wars and hand outs)

This is probably old data - but the point is still valid:
1003-biz-BROADBANDweb.gif


When companies like AT&T, Verizon, and other large cable companies milk the consumer for cash and place stupid low limits for a product that essentially costs them little to nothing to keep producing, you start to get the idea. I'm not saying bandwidth should be free - but in the digital age, paying $100 dollars for 10GB of data is just fucking stupid.

My grandma has a land line and that's IT -- hell she still has an old school 27" Tube Tv (watching modern day broadcasts on it with the screen chopped is hilarious) It's all just a factor of age for a large part of these statistics -- as a 31 year old male, I couldn't give two shits about twitter, instagram, or whatever the hell else the kids are into these days.
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It really sucks when you think about it -- imagine if we took 1/2 of what we have spent on all the dumb ass conflicts abroad foreign aid/etc and applied it towards our infrastructure Electrical, Water, Data, bridges, roads.... holy freaking crap - just imagine all that money floating around in our economy from the job creation that would come by dumping hundreds of billions onto our own people.
 
cageymaru said:
Internet access isn't even an option for many miles where I live at. I don't live on an island, or anything like that. Interstate 95 is less than 20 miles from me. Cellphones don't work here unless on analog which doesn't support internet. 3G, 4G, Iphone; what is that? They tell us that the telecommunication corporations don't have the resources to install internet here. Yet, every local college requires that you have internet access to attend and no campus dorms.

So yea, some people might not want it, but a lot more can't get it at all because America is too poor to install it according to our local government.
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Don't blame America because you need a hoverboat to get to your house.
 
so the data is:
  • No connection anywhere: 30.3 percent
  • Connection, but not at home: 5.6 percent
  • Connection at home only: 26.7 percent
  • Connection at home and elsewhere: 37.3 percent
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But then the map at the bottom of the article says that US average is 15%. Not sure what to make of that.

There are too many unanswered questions about this data. How many CAN get internet but don't, and how many have no availability whatsoever. Of the ones that make a choice not to get internet, what are the reasons etc.

Also, if you live out in the middle of nowhere, and complain about not having essential services.....i mean there's only so much the rest of us can do for you.
 
mastaBlasta said:
But then the map at the bottom of the article says that US average is 15%. Not sure what to make of that.
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Nationally, 15.9 percent of people had no home computer and another 14.4 percent had a computer but no Internet access in 2011
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That is where the 15.9% in the map is coming from.

But yeah, I would bet that a significant number of that ~30% could get online if they really wanted/needed to. For one, not everyone just abandons their elderly family members in some distant retirement home. Most Seniors probably feel that they can just use the internet when they need to at their sons/daughters house.
 
Its what happens when you have a massive landmass compared to say Japan, where their roll out will take a months tops but if Comcast had to do a roll out it would take years over here in USA.

I'm a bit surprised we have almost the entire place mapped out.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Don't blame America because you need a hoverboat to get to your house.
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Yeah no kidding. You live in Antarctica? My in laws live in a tiny, dirty, stinking mining town in Ohio. The nearest mall or movie theater is over an hour away. They still have internet and cell phone service.

Either way, the people that do live in the boondocks and have to shit in a hole in the ground are a very small portion of the internet-less.
 
I just saw another study (amidst all of the XBoxOne DRM hooplah) that showed 78% of the US population had access to internet. But it did not differentiate between home and not home (though in theory, wouldn't EVERYONE have access to the internet regardless of at home or not at home--just go somewhere with internet access; there's at least one internet access location within the whole of the US.

I think this data is skewed by not specifying whether the numbers are "those with no way to access the internet at home" or "those who choose not to have internet access at home."
 
Exactly. Merle and Ethel couldn't care less about shopping at Amazon. They just want to make the early bird special at Golden Corral.

I have a 75 year old uncle that sits at home and watches a 20" TV set all day. I tried to GIVE him a 27" Sony I don't really have a place for and he said "nah, it'll take up too much room. I can see the screen I've got now. Don't see why I'd need anything bigger."

That's just the way a lot of people think.
 
Disposed said:
Bullshit, plenty of people out there with gaming consoles and no Internet. Go to any low income housing development and count the consoles... Plenty of people in this country who can't afford Internet that will still buy their kids a console, plenty of homes with no computers with consoles too.

All you need for a console is a TV and a game to play. To make a claim like that shows how out of touch you are with reality in this country.
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So, take the data from the article - 30% of people with no Internet. Now, out of those 30%, how many own the newest consoles?

There are some that own an Xbox 360 or a PS3 and don't have internet. But, definitely not a whole lot.

If 30% don't have internet for one reason or another, how many are just in low income housing and can't afford internet vs. don't need or want internet but can afford it? How many are older folk? How many are console gamers?

If even 50% of those did own consoles are are from the low income communities, that's still 15%. Not a whole lot compared to the whole. From a numbers perspective, it may be a sizable sum, but as a percent of the whole? 15%? Definitely a minority. I stand by my comment. :)
 
MacLeod said:
Yeah no kidding. You live in Antarctica? My in laws live in a tiny, dirty, stinking mining town in Ohio. The nearest mall or movie theater is over an hour away. They still have internet and cell phone service.

Either way, the people that do live in the boondocks and have to shit in a hole in the ground are a very small portion of the internet-less.
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But some insist we beggar ourselves to cater to such. I say this as a guy born and raised in the hills of Appalachian Kentucky, about as boonie as you can get in the lower 48.
 
If there was any market (i.e. profit) at all for connecting rural areas, the electric companies would have already deployed power line communication systems.

And where did this idea come about that the government should ensure people have internet access? Baffling.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Don't blame America because you need a hoverboat to get to your house.
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Ha ha I live 20 miles from the interstate that connects NY to FL. Our area is a bypass for tractor trailers to enter NC. So all day commerce flows up and down our streets. But our governments can't afford internet to be brought to our area. It's not just one county in NC. It's LOTS of counties.
 
cageymaru said:
Ha ha I live 20 miles from the interstate that connects NY to FL. Our area is a bypass for tractor trailers to enter NC. So all day commerce flows up and down our streets. But our governments can't afford internet to be brought to our area. It's not just one county in NC. It's LOTS of counties.
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TBH, the fact that you can afford a hoverboat but not broadband has me questioning your priorities.
 
hellokeith said:
If there was any market (i.e. profit) at all for connecting rural areas, the electric companies would have already deployed power line communication systems.

And where did this idea come about that the government should ensure people have internet access? Baffling.
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There is market for it. Often this shit is shut down by local government.
 
hellokeith said:
And where did this idea come about that the government should ensure people have internet access? Baffling.
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Well, we all need TV, too. How else would we watch "Ouch, my balls!"? Government should mandate that, too. Internet access is a luxury. Similar to a cell phone. You don't NEED it. It helps out with a lot of things, it's fun, it's a nice tool, but it's not a necessity.
 
I grew up in rural Alabama and we had 6MB DSL back in 1998. While there are exceptions, I think people have more access options than they often realize.
 
MacLeod said:
Yeah no kidding. You live in Antarctica? My in laws live in a tiny, dirty, stinking mining town in Ohio. The nearest mall or movie theater is over an hour away. They still have internet and cell phone service.

Either way, the people that do live in the boondocks and have to shit in a hole in the ground are a very small portion of the internet-less.
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That's the thing. The way the government determines if you have internet is they ask the local government and the Telecoms. Take for example my area. It is considered fully covered by federal standards. The main road that passes through the county has Cable on it. Thus the Federal Government says that the area is covered. Hardly any of the hundreds of the off roads are covered. Some people don't even have 100% working landline phones because of the age of the wiring. But because one road has cable on it then the entire area is considered covered.

So what means the local government has to subsidize the Telecom's broadband roll out. They say they can't afford to pay for it. So most people go without except for the few that live on that one road. The really shitty thing is that they have fiber optic running to all schools in the area. But there is a deal in place where it can never be run to a home. The Telecom Centurylink and Time Warner Cable don't want everyone asking for internet service as you can't discriminate. So what they do is keep everyone from having it then they don't have to install it. If nobody has the service then you can't even use that ploy to try and get internet.

I even tried to get the Telecoms to allow me to install wireless service. They told me that the area was considered covered by the Federal Government thus they don't have to lease their lines to me. I didn't even get to ask them cost or anything before they shut me down.

So yes, America is too poor to afford to bring internet to it's citizens.
 
hellokeith said:
And where did this idea come about that the government should ensure people have internet access? Baffling.
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The general welfare clause of the constitution? I think internet access (communications), can do more for the well-being of people per dollar spent than any other activity - military, education, welfare, health care, transportation, research, etc - that the government has ever engaged in.
 
hellokeith said:
If there was any market (i.e. profit) at all for connecting rural areas, the electric companies would have already deployed power line communication systems.

And where did this idea come about that the government should ensure people have internet access? Baffling.
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Seriously? You need to study American history.

Why do rural areas even have electricity? Because guess what? Until the government stepped in, rural America was a 3rd world country and 4 miles outside of a major city the utilities said "sorry it is too expensive to get power to your house" and "there's no market".

Ask yourself that question. Because the answer to that is along the same lines of answering your rhetorical query.
 
collegeboy69us said:
It really sucks when you think about it -- imagine if we took 1/2 of what we have spent on all the dumb ass conflicts abroad foreign aid/etc and applied it towards our infrastructure Electrical, Water, Data, bridges, roads.... holy freaking crap - just imagine all that money floating around in our economy from the job creation that would come by dumping hundreds of billions onto our own people.
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It would just be used to create jobs for environmental lawyers suing, handouts to politically connected companies to do studies, and pay for political committes. Very little would actually be spend fixing or building anything.

Of course I'm assuming California, but a lot of other states are not much better.
 
what happened to all the tax dollars from the Broadband Initiatives in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act? Lining the pockets of the telecomm corporations who lobbied our Congress.
 
There were plenty of things to do before the internet and still are. If I were healthy and could do the things I used to I would probably not have a internet connection. Life was better in a lot of ways before the internet and cell phones.
 
What people fail to realize is that America is a big place, and there IS life outside of big cities. My parents, for example, live out in the country and their options are horrible dial-up (as in terrible even by dial-up standards) or overpriced wireless where you can maybe get a decent signal on a good day.
 
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