http://www.suntimes.com/technology/1733005,CST-NWS-INTERNET25.articleDownstate has slow Internet, Chicago has pockets of speed
August 25, 2009
BY SANDRA GUY sguy@suntimes.com
The new "digital divide" is Internet-access speed: The high-speeds vs. the slow-pokes, a survey out today shows.
"Downstate Illinois is slow, while pockets in the Chicago metropolitan area are faster. And the area around Champaign-Urbana
is faster," said Debbie Goldman, telecommunication policy director and research economist for the Communications Workers of America, which conducted the survey.
The CWA could not produce county-by-county or city-by-city results, but the findings reflect what Forrester Research analyst Doug Williams said is the "second digital divide" -- the difference in speeds in which people connect to the Internet. The first digital divide -- still an issue -- revolves around whether people can afford Internet access or live in an area that allows them any Internet access at all.
Generally, rural and poor minority neighborhoods have the slowest, if any, access, Williams said.
Illinois ranks No. 14 among the 50 states, with an average download speed of 6.4 megabits per second, the study shows.
Goldman said while Illinois dropped to No. 14 this year from No. 12 last year, its average download speed improved to 6.4 megabits per second from 5.2 mbps a year ago.
In Illinois, 18 percent of the people who took the CWA's access speed test had such slow access, they didn't qualify as broadband users (the minimum requires 768 kilobits per second downstream and 200 kbps upstream).
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