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CenterFuse Broadband Feasibility Report Microsoft measured downloads starting in September 2018, and found: • The 2018 FCC data claimed that 24.7 million people in the US don't have access to download speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps. In September 2018 Microsoft claimed that 162.8 million people were downloading data at speeds slower than 25/3 Mbps. • The FCC claimed in 2018 that 82.8% of the homes in Kittitas County had access to broadband of at least 25/3 Mbps. In September 2018 Microsoft said that only 34.9%of Internet connections in the county connected at download speeds of at least 25 Mbps. It's important to note that the FCC and Microsoft are not measuring the same thing. The FCC is measuring the percentage of homes that have access and can purchase 25/3 Mbps broadband. Microsoft is measuring the actual speeds of downloads. There are a few reasons why the speeds might be different. For example, some people opt to buy broadband products slower than 25/3, even when faster broadband is available. In Ellensburg, everybody using Consolidated DSL will be slower than the 25/3 Mbps speed. Some households receive slower speeds due to issues in the home like poor-quality WiFi routers. The Gap in Broadband Availability The FCC reports that broadband adoption for the country is around 87%. Ellensburg is slightly higher than average with 88% of respondents to the survey having a landline broadband connection. In Ellensburg there are 16%of the homes that don't have a landline broadband connection, 1%that only use cellphones, and 4%that use high-orbit satellite broadband. John B. Horrigan published a papers earlier this year titled Measuring the Gap that makes the point that the reasons that homes don't have broadband are complicated. There have been studies over the years that have tried to pin down the primary reason that homes don't have broadband, but by doing so the studies have glossed over the fact that most homes have multiple reasons for not having broadband. A good example of this is a Pew Research Center survey in 2019 that explored the issue. In that survey: • 50% of respondents said that high prices are a reason for not having broadband, but only 21% said price is the primary reason. • 45% of respondents said they relied on smartphones that could do everything they need, but only 23% said that was the primary reason for not buying broadband. • 43% said they were able to get access to the Internet from a source outside the home, but only 11% gave that as the primary reason. • 45% said that the cost of a computer is too expensive, but only 10%gave that as the primary reason. As Horrigan points out, sometimes there is bias in the questions being asked in a survey. A survey that has pre-conceived ideas about why folks don't have broadband will miss some of the reasons. Consider a 2017 survey from the California Emerging Technology Fund. This survey showed different reasons than Pew for why homes don't have broadband because the survey asked different questions. The survey showed: 5 https://www.digitalinclusion.org/blog/2020102111/measuring-the-gap-by john-horrigan/ Page 41