The Broadband Affordability Burden: Exploring Research and Policies for Affordable High-Speed Internet for All
October 9 @ 10:00 am – 11:30 am CDT
The broadband affordability gap across households in the U.S. is one of the primary obstacles to accessing the internet. Of the 28.2 million U.S. households that do not have high-speed broadband, 18 million are offline because they cannot afford the cost of an at-home internet connection. According to a Benton Institute survey, 43 percent of low-income households are subscription vulnerable, meaning they have lost service because of difficulty paying broadband bills, find it very difficult to afford service, or live at or near the poverty line.
This webinar features research on the cost and affordability of high-speed broadband, especially for low-and-moderate income households. It looks at the household factors associated with the broadband cost burden, the implications of the end of the Affordable Connectivity Program, and strategies for making broadband affordable for all.
Space is limited.
The 2024 Digital Inclusion Webinar Series
Join us during Digital Inclusion Week for a series of webinars highlighting the latest research on digital inclusion. Each webinar focuses on a timely topic, elevating policy-driven scholarship. The presentations will feature emerging methodologies, best practices and needs for future research.
Academics, researchers, policymakers, and community development practitioners are encouraged to register for one or more of the sessions:
- Following the Dollars: Measuring the Efficacy of Federal Broadband Funding (October 8, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm CT)
- Evaluating Digital Skills: Data, Measurement Tools, and Outcomes (October 10, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm CT)
- Roundtable Discussion (October 11, 11:00 am – 12:30 pm CT)
Why this matters
Access to the internet is vital to economic inclusion. However, many Americans lack access to affordable home broadband or the skills and devices needed to use it.
Recent federal funding programs provide a singular opportunity to address these issues. This has driven an interest in relevant research on digital inclusion among policymakers and practitioners, as well as academics and researchers. The heightened attention has also revealed research gaps in some areas.
About this series
This webinar series is a follow-up to the Digital Inclusion Research Forum hosted by the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Dallas, Kansas City and Philadelphia in 2023.
The forum serves as a platform to share digital inclusion research and provide context for practitioners to understand and apply research to their work. It also highlights opportunities for new research.