Dollars to Megabits, You May Be Paying 400 Times As Much As Your Neighbor for Internet Service

[Eugene]

Source: The Markup and The Associated Press

October 19, 2022 06:51 ET

Dollars to Megabits, You May Be Paying 400 Times As Much As Your Neighbor for Internet Service

An investigation by The Markup found that AT&T, Verizon, EarthLink, and CenturyLink disproportionately offered lower-income and least-White neighborhoods slow internet service for the same price as speedy connections they offered in other parts of town

By Leon Yin and Aaron Sankin

-snip-

In her area, AT&T only offers download speeds of 1 megabit per second or less, trapping her in a digital Stone Age. Her internet is so slow that it doesn’t meet Zoom’s recommended minimum for group video calls, doesn’t come close to the FCC’s definition of broadband, currently 25 Mbps, and is worlds below median home internet speeds in the U.S., which average 167 Mbps.

“In my neighborhood, it’s terrible,” Neville said.

But that’s not the case in other parts of New Orleans. AT&T offers residents of the mostly White, upper-income neighborhood of Lakeview internet speeds almost 400 times faster than Neville’s—for the same price: $55 a month.

The vast gulf between the quality of service AT&T offered these neighborhoods for the same cost is not a fluke.

The Markup gathered and analyzed more than 800,000 internet service offers from AT&T, Verizon, Earthlink, and CenturyLink in 38 cities across America and found that all four routinely offered fast base speeds at or above 200 Mbps in some neighborhoods for the same price as connections below 25 Mbps in others.

-snip-

Read more: https://themarkup.org/still-loading/2022/10/19/dollars-to-megabits-you-may-be-paying-400-times-as-much-as-your-neighbor-for-internet-service

AP News link: https://apnews.com/article/broadband-internet-speed-inequality-01a99247a08b355e89cc54595aecdafa

[MLAA]

1. This is a disgusting practice.

What a scam against poorer neighborhoods. Wonder if ACLU or similar organization could find legal footing to sue based on discrimination?

[True Blue American]

2. I recently changed internet providers.

As soon as I did I began to get notices and phone calls that I was eligible for free internet thanks to the Infrastucture bill that Congress passed putting internet all over the Country. I still pay for cable and landline. Took about $60 off my bill.Spectrum

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

4. is Spectrum your current provider?

I live a few miles up a dirt road, there is no cable provider. When I first hooked up it was over the phone line, but the phone didn't work when I was online. Then I got WildBlue, a satellite connection. When the modem failed they had become excede and they installed a new dish and modem and increased the cost, but I use my bandwidth in 2 weeks and they slow down my access.

[True Blue American]

5. Yes, and the program is for

People like you in rural areas so that internet can be spread all over the country, especially in rural areas.

Start here! https://www.fcc.gov/acp


Google free internet if that does not answer you questions. There is a whole line to shock. Hope it works for you!

[Auggie]

3. We the people should never have allowed internet connectivity to be a for-profit service

[Tarheel_Dem]

6. Redlining, at its absolute worst. Shameful. n/t