The State of Broadband in America, Q1 2021

Our first state of broadband report for 2021 continues to monitor progress on our mission for every American to have access to broadband internet amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Findings 

• Access to low-priced broadband internet has increased significantly over the last year.  For the first time, more than 3 of 4 of Americans (77%) have access to low-priced wired broadband plans compared to 50% in our 2020 Q1 report.  A low-priced broadband plan costs $60 per month or less (excluding promotional pricing), and has minimum speeds of 25 Mbps download / 3 Mbps upload.
• Low priced plans are not as common at higher speeds.  Just 31% of Americans have access to a low-priced plan that has 100 Mbps download / 25 Mbps upload.
• 41% of Americans have access to symmetrical service of 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload speed from a wired or fixed wireless provider.

Written by Tyler Cooper Julia Tanberk