Southeast Michigan Broadband Availability and Usage
\r\nThis tool displays digital connectivity, in terms of residential broadband availability, internet use, and\r\n computer usage throughout Southeast Michigan.
\r\nBroadband availability shows service areas by maximum advertised internet speed and by number of broadband\r\n providers. Internet use is mapped by Census Block Group and allows the user to view the data by age,\r\n race/ethnicity, and household income.\r\n
\r\nThe levels of geography that may be analyzed include: Southeast Michigan, Counties, School Districts,\r\n Communities, Census Tracts, and Census Block Groups.\r\n
\r\nQuestions the application may help address include:
\r\n- \r\n
- Is broadband service available to all households? \r\n
- Where broadband is not available, what is the magnitude, and which population groups are affected the\r\n most?\r\n \r\n
- What might be some of the reasons for not using broadband other than availability?\r\n
- \r\n
- No computer \r\n
- Use smart phone instead or decide don’t need it \r\n
- Few provider and/or bundled options \r\n
- Can’t afford it \r\n
\r\n - Is there equity between racial/ethnic groups and income groups with respect to broadband access? \r\n
For additional resources and information about SEMCOG's efforts in creating robust broadband system in Southeast Michigan, visit SEMCOG's Broadband page.
\r\n\r\n \r\n Usage\r\n
\r\n A broadband Internet use refers to a household having and using at least one type of Internet\r\n subscription other than a dial-up subscription alone. It includes the following types of subscriptions:
\r\n- \r\n
- Broadband (high speed) such as cable, fiber optic or DSL \r\n
- cellular data plan for a smartphone or other mobile device \r\n
- satellite \r\n
- fixed wireless. \r\n
\r\n \r\n Availability\r\n
\r\n \r\n Broadband availability shows estimated residential fixed, non-mobile terrestrial service areas with internet\r\n speeds of:\r\n
\r\n- \r\n
- Broadband - 25Mbps download / 3 Mbps upload, or faster \r\n
- Fast broadband - 100Mbps download / 10 Mbps upload, or faster \r\n
- Unserved - less than 25Mbps download / 3 Mbps upload, or no service available.\r\n \r\n
Note: The use of “WiFi Hot Spot” services are not included in these\r\n estimates.\r\n
\r\nMethodology – Households by broadband availability and speed is estimated by intersecting building\r\n points with the internet service areas and applying speed distributions to household counts for the\r\n selected geography.\r\n
\r\nBroadband availability and speed for the household population by race is estimated by applying a\r\n uniform distribution at the community and Census tracts and block group levels. Census block group estimates are\r\n then aggregated for estimating county and regional data. Estimates for Communities and School districts within Southeast\r\n Michigan use aggregated Census block group broadband availability by race estimates, and then are\r\n controlled to counts of household and household population by race.\r\n
\r\nFor school districts primarily outside the region, only Internet Usage data is available.
\r\n\r\n\r\nGlossary
\r\nNumber of Broadband Providers - Number of unique Internet providers advertising a maximum Internet speed of\r\n at least 25M download / 3M upload. (Date of data: September 2021)
\r\nNo Computer or Lack of Computer - Lack of any device that has some computing capability, such as a\r\n desktop/laptop, smart phone, or a tablet.
\r\nSmart Device - Smart device includes smart phone or a tablet.
\r\nComputer - Computer can be any device that has some computing capability such as a desktop/laptop, smart\r\n phone, or a tablet.
\r\nRace/Ethnicity - Data shown for Black and Asian races include persons of Hispanic origin belonging to those\r\n races.
\r\n\r\nAdditional Notes
\r\nData shown for population groups include household population.
\r\nBroadband availability estimates and Internet Use numbers may appear inconsistent for a variety of reasons.\r\n Availability estimates dates September 2021, considers broadband with a minimum speed of 25Mbps download and\r\n 3 Mbps upload. Internet usage shows 2017-2021 American Community Survey data, which are self-reported.\r\n Respondents may include broadband with speeds less than 25M/3M in their response. Second, broadband\r\n availability assumes uniform distribution of households and the household population among available housing\r\n units at small areas of geography, which are then aggregated to larger areas of geographies.
\r\n\r\nMap Notes
\r\nUse the map section to change the geography type and select a community or other geographic area. Use the\r\n map layer drop downs to visualize:
\r\n- \r\n
- Broadband speed available \r\n
- Number of broadband providers \r\n
- \r\n
- Households not using broadband \r\n
- Households with no computer \r\n
- \r\n
- Person/dot not using broadband by race/ethnicity \r\n
- Household/dot not using broadband by income \r\n
The Wifi Hotspots layer shows where public, self reported wifi hotspots are located.
\r\nThe Speed Availability and Demographic overlays have interactive legends that allow for filtering the data shown\r\n on the map.
\r\nOn the map you can search for a location, make the map fullscreen and change the basemap. Use the Zoom\r\n Toggle to disable the map from automatically zooming to the selected area.
\r\n\r\n\r\nSources
\r\n- \r\n
- Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS)\r\n 2017-2021 5-Year\r\n Estimates \r\n
For more information contact\r\n SEMCOG.\r\n
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