On Aug 19, 2011, at 3:40 PM, Patrick W. Gilmore wrote: > [*] Anyone know what %-age of North American users have multiple choices for > real broadband (e.g. > 1.5 Mbps, or even > 4 Mbps as the FCC now defines it)? > I searched, but can't find it. I can find how many people have > 4 Mbps > available, but not more than one choice.
I tried getting some data on that a few weeks back when reading the FCC Broadband Report. The best I could find was below which still leaves the users vs. markets unclear (which most likely skews the end result): Today, 290 million Americans—95% of the U.S. population—live in housing units30 with access to terrestrial, fixed broadband infrastructure capable of supporting actual download speeds of at least 4 Mbps.31 Of those, more than 80% live in markets with more than one provider capable of offering actual download speeds of at least 4 Mbps.32 Meanwhile, 14 million people in the United States living in 7 million housing units do not have access to terrestrial broadband infrastructure capable of this speed.33 Although housing units without access to terrestrial broadband capable of 4 Mbps download speeds exist throughout the country, they are more common in rural areas (see Exhibit 3-D).34 Above is from http://www.broadband.gov/plan/3-current-state-of-the-ecosystem/ which I got referenced from the FCC Broadband Report. That further references the OBI report on broadband availability gap which I never finished reading so more details might be in there. /nco
