By Adilia Watson. Version distributed by Suzanne Potter. Report for the Daily there-Arkansas News Service Collaboration
Consumer reports, in partnership with a coalition of partners, is researching better data on Internet speed, reliability and accessibility.
Today, Consumer Reports launched “Let’s Broadband Together” in partnership with a coalition of groups across the United States, including the Rural Assembly, a program of the Center for Rural Strategies, which also publishes the Daily Yonder.
The project asks consumers to submit their Internet bills and download speeds to a national database that researchers and consumer advocates will use to analyze what American families pay for Internet access and what their money is for them. lets buy.
The rural implications of this effort are obvious. According to data from the Pew Research Center, at least 60% of rural residents say high-speed internet is a problem where they live.
“Broadband access is one of the most pressing civil rights issues of our time,” said Whitney Kimball Coe, Rural Assembly coordinator. “For too long, rural areas and indigenous communities have lost their minds to the digital divide, unable to fully participate in the economic, social and cultural forces that are shaping our world today. The Rural Assembly is delighted to be ‘associate with the Let’s Broadband Together project aimed at increasing transparency and accountability around the achievement of a high-quality, high-speed and affordable Internet. “
To participate in the campaign, consumers will be asked to share a monthly Internet bill showing the cost of the service, complete a speed test, and complete a short survey. The whole process is estimated to take around seven minutes. The goal of the “Let’s Broadband Together” effort is to “find out what we’re really getting for our money and advocate for better internet that costs less,” according to a Consumer Reports press release.
The data will be aggregated and analyzed to develop benchmarks around cost of service and speed. The project will help analysts understand how and why prices and performance vary. No personally identifiable information will be recorded as part of the project analysis, the press release said. Attendees will receive a free membership to Consumer Reports and access to educational materials on broadband reliability and affordability.
Other organizations participating in the campaign include the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Color of Change, Public Knowledge, the American Library Association, the Open Technology Institute, and many more.
Consumer Reports, formed in 1936, focuses on empowering consumers and creating “truth, transparency and fairness in the marketplace,” according to its website. The organization’s president, Maria Tellado, said internet access was a necessity, not a luxury.
“Broadband must be available, accessible and affordable for everyone, including low-income households and rural areas,” she said. “For too long the true cost and quality of Internet service has been hidden and obscured. We want to shed light on what is really going on, so that every American can have the quality Internet they need to be successful today. ‘today and in the future. “
Project partners hope that better data will ultimately lead to smarter policy. Historically, official government counts of Internet access have relied on self-reported data by service providers, which tend to provide a limited view on availability and ignore issues of reliability and affordability.
Joshua Stager, deputy director of Broadband and Competition Policy at the Open Technology Institute, explained that this survey will allow organizations to hear directly from consumers.
“The federal government still does not collect this data,” he said, “which often leaves policy makers and the public in the dark.”
The campaign’s goal is to collect at least 30,000 consumer submissions by the end of September. You can participate by submitting your invoice and speed test data to www.consumerreports.org/upload/broadband/?EXTKEY=BBA17EEC1C.
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Adilia Watson wrote this article for The Daily Yonder.
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ALBANY, NY – A Bill to Strengthen New York Secure Choice Savings Program will reach Governor Kathy Hochul’s office in the coming months.
Supporters of the measure said its approval would make it easier for New Yorkers to save for retirement. The legislation would apply to businesses with 10 or more employees that do not already offer a workplace retirement savings option.
With payroll deductions, workers could build an individual retirement account through the state-facilitated program at little or no cost to the company.
Bill Ferris, New York State Legislative Representative for AARP, said entry they collected of more than 200 small businesses in the state without a savings program showed how the legislation will help businesses and their employees.
“The number one and number two reasons these small New York employers didn’t offer a 401 (k) plan or some other type of retirement savings plan is because they thought it was. too complicated and too expensive for them, ”Ferris said. reported.
Part of the bill includes automatic registration, which another AARP study found can lead to a 90% turnout. Research has also shown that without automatic enrollment, the enrollment rate drops to 70%, and people of color, younger employees, women and low-paid workers register less frequently.
Almost four in five of business owners surveyed in the state believe the updated program should become law. Ferris noted that AARP New York and supporters of the bill hope the measure will allow workers to invest in their financial future.
“This program clearly does that for New Yorkers, especially those who get up every day and go to work and don’t have the option to save for retirement,” Ferris said.
The governor has until Dec. 31 to consider the expansion, along with all other bills passed by the state legislature this session. If enacted, the measure could help more than two million private sector workers save for their retirement.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif .– Groups who want to see high-speed internet extended to all parts of the country are pushing the US House to toughly adopt President Joe Biden’s $ 1 trillion infrastructure bill, which has already been passed by the Senate.
The proposal includes $ 65 billion to expand broadband.
Stan Santos, regional coordinator of the Communications Workers of America’s “Broadband Brigade”, noted that the state of California is also providing $ 6 billion to bring high-speed internet to more rural, low-income communities of color in Canada. over the next three years.
“The United States is in such a bad position, in terms of competitiveness, compared to so many countries in the world when it comes to broadband access,” Santos observed.
The United States is 27th for access to high-speed Internet, according to allconnect.com. And we rank 14th in the world for the speed of our mobile and broadband services internet connections, according to speedtest.net.
Santos is monitoring two cases before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Service providers could be forced to provide data on their networks to the agency for planning purposes. The other would force them to stop the redline and expand the service to smaller, less profitable communities.
“It needs to be regulated,” Santos argued. “There must be demands, and there must be consequences if they continue to be bad actors, especially with public funds.”
People can view broadband cards on the CPUC and the Federal Communications Commission websites to see which communities are burdened by slow internet and would be prioritized when building.
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