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New Pew Internet report outlines high speed Internet data problems

This week, the Pew Internet & American Life Project released an important report on the need for the United States to collect better data on high speed Internet penetration. The report, Measuring Broadband: Improving Communications Policymaking through Better Data Collection, is the result of a workshop convened last year by the University of Texas at Austin and MIT. The experts at the workshop came from the government, academia, and industry, and they all agreed that real progress on universal high speed Internet can't happen until we have much better data on current deployment.

The recurring theme of the workshop, according to a background memo also released by Pew this week, was "Networks may be global, but measurement must be local." The memo continued,

The gathered experts kept coming back to the need for granularity in data collection. That is, whether the goal is assessing economic impacts or understanding user behavior, data must be collected at the smallest geographic levels possible -- smaller than areas captured by 5 digit zip codes. This would permit state and local officials to better understand the impacts of information technology in their areas.

The current collection methods fail to provide a sufficiently detailed look at high speed Internet deployment, and therefore do not provide much-needed insights into quality of service, end-user experience, and pricing. In addition, the report noted serious shortcomings in the FCC's 200 kb/s definition of high speed, as well as the inconsistency between FCC and Census Bureau zip code boundaries.

To solve these problems, the Pew report recommended that the U.S. government follow three principles in setting a high speed Internet data collection policy:

1. Collection of data should be at a sufficiently fine-grained level to permit regional analysis of the impacts of communication technology.

2. The United States should be able to produce a map showing the availability of infrastructure in the country.

3. Academic researchers, non-profit organizations, the government, and the private sector must work collaboratively to gather data that permits assessment of quality
of service and the user experience.

These principles are reflected in two pieces of legislation currently being considered in Congress. Just this week, the House of Representatives passed the Broadband Census of America Act, which requires the FCC to collect more detailed high speed Internet data and develop a comprehensive nationwide map of high speed coverage. A similar bill -- Broadband Data Improvement Act -- has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Daniel Inouye and a vote is expected soon. These pieces of legislation promise to be major steps in the effort to solve our nation's data collection problems and bring high speed Internet to all Americans.

Measuring Broadband: Improving Communications Policymaking through Better Data Collection (Pew Internet & American Life Project)

Why We Don't Know Enough About Broadband in the U.S. (Pew Internet & American Life Project)

The FCC Must Immediately Change Its Definition of "Broadband" (Speed Matters)

House passes the Broadband Census of America Act (Speed Matters)

Mapping bill raises hope for quick action by Congress (Speed Matters)

Senator Inouye Introduces Broadband Data Improvement Act (Speed Matters)