According to a June study by the Pew Internet Center, one in every three Americans does not have a broadband Internet connection, and 21 percent have no home Internet at all. Just 35 percent of households making less than $20,000 and just 46 percent of blacks have broadband connections. This is the persistent digital divide. Having no access cuts off those Americans from the information and tools the Internet provides across an incredible array of topics, from politics to education to medicine. For young people, the need to be Internet-literate is even greater, and schools have traditionally placed little focus on computer access for students. But a new study of wireless Internet use suggests a very different picture. Sixty percent of blacks use wireless Internet regularly and 71 percent use handheld data. Usage trends for low-income users are also higher on wireless. In fact, minority groups traditionally left out of the growing broadband world report significantly higher usage of mobile and wireless Internet than do whites. That makes enough sense -- wireless is both more portable and more affordable; the average monthly home broadband bill is $39, while wireless data plans are as low as $20. Historically, the federal government has done an appallingly poor job of encouraging broadband expansion and of busting the regional monopolies that reduce choice and raise prices for home Internet connections. To that end, the stimulus included $7.2 billion for broadband expansion, including $4.7 billion in grants to “innovative programs” that reach "unserved and underserved" areas. The efficacy of this is, of course, in the details of to whom and how the money is awarded, and those are just beginning to emerge. But perhaps we ought to just hand out smartphones instead. --Christopher Sopher
