Where America stands in broadband, according to the FCC

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the "broadband stimulus plan," included the proviso that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) submit a National Broadband Plan to Congress by February 2010.

With just under five months left before the plan is due before Congress, the FCC today used the results of its 26 broadband-related workshops and hearings and nearly 41,000 pages of comments to describe the current state of broadband and enable Commissioner/public feedback for review.

"We still have a lot of work to do. But with all of the data we've gathered in our workshops and hearings, in the record, and in our own research, we think we have a pretty good handle on the status of broadband in the US," said Blair Levin, Executive Director of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative.

FCC's facts about US connectivity today:

• Actual broadband speeds lag advertised speeds by at least 50%*
• Speeds slower than 768 Kbps do not qualify as "basic broadband"
• Between 3-6 million Americans are unserved by basic broadband
• 4% of Americans have no broadband access at all due to geography
• 33% of Americans have access to broadband, but have not adopted
• 66% of Americans have adopted broadband at home
• More than 70% of high school students use the Internet as primary homework research tool
• There are no broadband connection services specifically for public safety, they have been limited to commercial services
• People with disabilities use the Internet half as much as people without
• Only 29% of lower income users have made purchases online, compared to 82% of upper income users
• More than 77% of Fortune 500 companies posted jobs and accepted applications online only in 2005, and that number has only increased

According to the Commission's preliminary estimates, it will cost more than $20 billion to provide "universal availability" at speeds between 768 Kbps and 3 Mbps, and for 100 Mbps and above, it could cost more than $350 billion. Ensuring that all areas have either multiple carriers or multiple methods of connection to prevent local monopolies will make the cost "significantly higher." Part of this includes assessing the wireless spectrum to accommodate future mobile broadband consumption.

The FCC has a four hour long open meeting occurring today (being liveblogged, Twittered [@FCC], and broadcast live online) devoted entirely to the Broadband Plan, in which the public is highly encouraged to participate. The facts listed above are only some of the major points the commission will be making today.

"We...want the public to weigh on the facts and analysis we will present so we can make adjustments now, while we are still at a relatively early point in the process, rather than later, after decisions have been made," Levin continued.

*Originally the FCC said it was between 50%-80%, but later retracted the statement, saying: "This sentence is incorrect: our data does not support the 80% figure."