The California Emerging Technology Fund and the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies Poll on Monday published the 10th Annual Survey on Broadband Adoption in California, examining who does and doesn't have broadband service at home. They found that 87 percent of California households have a high-speed Internet connection at home (generally referred to as "broadband" in this poll). Among those, 18 percent have access only through a smartphone, while 69 percent report having broadband Internet access through a computing device.
Between 2015 and 2017, the proportion of Californians connecting to the Internet only through a smartphone more than doubled from 8 percent to 18 percent. The annual survey confirms that the most disadvantaged residents remain offline and “underconnected.”
Of those without broadband access at home, 69 percent cite the cost or not owning a computer or smartphone as a reason for not being connected, and 34 percent say this is their main reason. Another 44 percent of these respondents cite home Internet as too difficult to set up and learn, confirming the need for adoption assistance and digital literacy training in California. Nineteen percent report that Internet service is not available where they live.
According to the survey, several California demographic groups have home broadband adoption rates that fall more than 10 percentage points below the overall adoption* rate of 87 percent. They include:
- Household income of less than $20,000 (75 percent)
- Adults 65 or older (69 percent)
- Spanish-speaking Latinos (70 percent)
- Not a high school graduate (67 percent)
- Adults who identify having a disability (75 percent)
The underconnected users are largely the same population subgroups as those with historically lower levels of residential Internet access. For example, not only are low-income Californians less likely than high-income earners to have Internet access at home (75 percent versus 99 percent), the disparities grow wider when comparing how residents with access are connecting to the Internet. Just 48 percent of Californians with incomes of less than $20,000 can access the Internet at home through a computing device, compared to 90 percent among those with incomes of $100,000 or more.
Similarly, a smaller proportion of the state’s Spanish-speaking Latinos (70 percent) than other groups have access to broadband Internet at home, and just 32 percent connect to the Internet through a home computing device. Other groups most likely to have broadband connectivity through a smartphone only are: adults who have not graduated from high school (28 percent); households whose total annual income is less than $20,000 (27 percent); households whose total annual income is less than $39,999 (23 percent); and Californians who are not married/live with a partner (22 percent).
The Berkeley IGS Poll further finds that 13 percent report not having broadband at home. This finding is corroborated by an April 2016 report of the California Public Utilities Commission, which found that 43 percent of rural California households can’t get reliable broadband Internet, for a total of 424,000 households.
These findings are particularly relevant as the California Legislature nears the close of the 2017 session and decides whether to pass the Internet For All Now Act (AB 1665), a $330 million broadband infrastructure and adoption bill that extends for five years the California Advanced Services Fund, established by the Legislature and California Public Utilities Commission in 2008 to expand broadband availability in unserved and underserved areas of California.
“The Annual Survey details how the lowest-income, least-educated and most-rural Californians are living without an essential tool to access the educational, employment, health care and civic engagement opportunities that lead to greater economic opportunities and a better quality of life,” said Sunne Wright McPeak, president and CEO of the California Emerging Technology Fund. “We call on the California Legislature to extend the California Advanced Services Fund and to pass the Internet for All Now Act to ensure digital access and digital literacy for all. High-speed Internet access is a 21st-century civil right.”
While progress has been made since the baseline 2008 Annual Survey data showed California at 55 percent home broadband adoption, the stakes have grown much higher. It is nearly impossible, without having at least basic digital skills, to find employment or have a pathway out of poverty to economic self-sufficiency. Majorities of those with broadband connectivity at home now say they are accessing the Internet to manage their money or bank online (70 percent); get health or medical information (66 percent); find job opportunities (61 percent); learn about or access government services (57 percent); and gain new career skills or take classes online (51 percent).
Compared to their urban counterparts, rural Californians remain underconnected, according to the Annual Survey, which raises critical issues for this group. Not only are there few affordable home broadband Internet options in rural California, there are considerable broadband Internet access problems. In many parts of the state, broadband is not available or is only available at speeds too slow to download or upload documents or navigate the Internet. Those factors make the statewide goal of 98 percent broadband infrastructure access impossible to reach without passage of AB 1665 by the Legislature.
Education and Broadband Adoption
Among broadband-connected households where children under age 18 reside, 83 percent said they used the Internet to help their children with homework. This declines to 67 percent among those who connect to the Internet only through a smartphone.
“While smartphones are marvelous devices with lots of useful capabilities, they alone are not enough to help close the education achievement gap,” McPeak said. “In addition to the prevalence of online homework, California public school students are now required to take assessment tests on a computer with a keyboard, and students without daily experience at home using a more functional computing device are at a disadvantage.”
Older Californians are among the least connected, with just 69 percent of those age 65 or older having access to broadband Internet at home, declining to 58 percent among those age 75 or older. This raises critical quality-of-life issues for this group. With the advance in telemedicine and government services delivery moving online, it is essential that older adults have access to affordable broadband, digital literacy training and computing devices. Telemedicine will be a major strategy to keep seniors with chronic conditions or disabilities in their homes and save costs for the medical care system.
California’s Digital Divide is closing largely due to increases in use of smartphones. Among all California adults, 18 percent use a smartphone only to connect to the Internet. Recent surveys and other studies have found that “smartphone-only users” were much less likely to visit government or community websites; bank online or transfer funds to family members; get health or medical information or communicate with their doctor; or take a class online.
All these activities are linked to moving out of poverty. Subgroups most likely to have connectivity only through a smartphone are: Spanish-speaking Latinos (38 percent); adults who have not graduated from high school (28 percent); and households whose total annual income is less than $20,000 (27 percent).
The Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, conducted the Annual Survey through telephone interviews with 1,628 California adults in six languages and dialects — English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Vietnamese and Korean between May 4 and May 29.
The mission of CETF is to close the digital divide in California. The overall goal is to reach 98 percent of all California residences in every region with broadband infrastructure and to achieve 90 percent home broadband adoption by 2023.
For more information, visit www.cetfund.org.
