Vt. poll finds digital divide
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By BRUCE EDWARDS Rutland Herald STAFF - Published: April 1, 2009
The number of Vermont households with a high-speed Internet connection has jumped to 66 percent over the past eight years but a digital divide remains, with low-income Vermonters less likely to have Internet access, according to a poll conducted by the University of Vermont Center for Rural Studies.
The Vermonter Poll found that the percentage of Vermont households with a high-speed Internet connection increased from 9 percent in 2001 to slightly more than 66 percent in 2009.
The UVM poll of 615 households found that at least 79 percent of households surveyed have broadband available to them. Of households that didn't have Internet or broadband, nearly 46 percent said they were aware high-speed Internet was available to them, while 17 percent were not sure.
The Douglas administration has set a goal of 100 percent affordable broadband availability in the state by the end of 2010.
Tom Evslin, who heads the state's Office of Economic Stimulus and Recovery, said Tuesday the state hopes to garner $100 million in federal grants to not only achieve complete broadband coverage but to go even further and achieve 100 percent penetration so every household that wants high-speed Internet access can afford it.
The UVM phone survey found that income and geography remain factors in determining whether a household has Internet access.
"There's the striking number that households under $25,000 a year, only 44 percent of them had a computer versus 83 percent of all households and 91 percent of households making more than $25,000," Will Sawyer, state data center manager at the UVM Center for Rural Studies, said Tuesday.
Although a majority of all households with Internet access in the state have a high-speed or broadband connection, the poll found that 76 percent of households earning less than $50,000 a year have broadband compared to 85 percent of households with higher incomes.
The survey also confirmed a geographic divide when it comes to access to the Internet.
Of those surveyed living in rural areas, 76 percent had a broadband connection compared to 88 percent for urban households and 93 percent for suburban households. The survey also noted that those living in urban areas are less likely to be connected to either dial-up or high-speed Internet.
"When you look at the basic infrastructure realities, you would think it would be easier to get broadband out in urban areas because of the density," Sawyer said, "but I think the reason why that urban number is lower than the suburban is because we've also found in our poll, and I think in general, there tends to be a high proportion of low-income households in urban areas."
To achieve 100 percent broadband access and to make it affordable for all Vermonters, the Douglas administration hopes to tap into the $7 billion in federal stimulus grant money from the Agriculture and Commerce departments.
Evslin said state government along with the telecommunications companies in the state are partnering in hopes of being awarded $100 million or more in competitive grant money over a two-year period.
Evslin, the state's chief recovery officer, said it's not only important to have the state 100 percent wired for broadband but to also make it affordable to every Vermonter who wants it.
He said that's not only important on a social level but is also critical to achieve the state's other goals in the areas of smart electric metering, access to electronic health records and education.
"We can wire the schools and obviously we have to connect them to something," Evslin said, "but more important you have to make sure when kids get home if they're given homework to be done online that you don't have 10 percent of the class that's unconnected and not able to do it."
If the applications are successful, Evslin said the grants would not only build out high-speed Internet in the remaining rural areas of the state but would also help reduce the cost for people who can't afford to get online.
The UVM report on information technology from the 2009 Vermonter Poll is available at crs.uvm.edu/vtrpoll/2009.
The Vermonter Poll is annually by the Center for Rural Studies at the University of Vermont. This year's poll was conducted Feb. 18 to 27.
bruce.edwards@rutlandherald.com
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