How Broadband Enabled Americans to Cope with a Pandemic
The March – April period marked a historic moment in time for the U.S. when the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread fast, and internet usage proved critical to our country's safety and wellbeing. As pointed out last week, NCTA's COVID-19 internet dashboard, which has been tracking cable broadband network performance across the country every week, measured the largest surge in late March when millions of people were working from home at the same time that students began distance learning in lieu of school closures. But with the economy slowly reopening over the past couple of months and students
A Robust Solution to Closing the Digital Divide
It’s 2020 and for most of us, the internet feels truly ubiquitous. From the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep, much of our daily routine depends on an internet connection. In fact, a 2019 Pew study found that 73% of Americans go online at least several times a day, with 28% describing themselves as online “almost constantly.” But even as internet technology continuously improves and becomes a more frequent part of daily life for most Americans, we remain mindful that for a small, but persistent group of Americans, the barriers to broadband adoption remain significant. The
3Q: How More Unlicensed Spectrum Could Impact America
America’s technological and data demands are growing. The explosion of use cases for Wi-Fi and the internet of things (IoT), in particular, has created a drive to open up more unlicensed spectrum. In December 2019, the FCC unanimously voted to consider a proposal that would dedicate a portion of the 5.9 GHz spectrum band to unlicensed use. Soon, it’s expected that the FCC will authorize unlicensed use in the 6 GHz band as well. As this important national conversation continues, NCTA sat down with our spectrum expert, Danielle Piñeres, Vice President and Associate General Counsel, to talk about
