Access the Findings
43% of South Carolina residents still do not adopt broadband at home
Columbia, South Carolina – Today, Connect South Carolina released new residential broadband adoption survey results revealing the top trends in technology use among key demographics in South Carolina. The preliminary indicators from the survey are available online, which gives a comprehensive view of the challenges and opportunities for expanding broadband in targeted sectors. Approximately 43% of South Carolina residents are not subscribing to broadband at home. Most notably, the majority of low-income, rural, senior, disabled adult, Hispanic, and African-American households are without broadband at home, leaving them facing an uphill battle in keeping up with essential online resources, job and educational opportunities, and social services.
This survey is conducted in support of Connect South Carolina’s efforts to close South Carolina’s digital gap. The survey explores the main barriers to adoption – cost, digital skills, and relevance – and also provides unique insights into the national broadband landscape.
“The broadband adoption gap affects us all – it affects the economic future of our communities, it affects the education of our children, and it affects the economy’s potential for job growth,” said Tom Koutsky, chief policy counsel for Connected Nation, Connect South Carolina’s parent organization. “But there are no simple solutions to what is a multifaceted problem. Our South Carolina-based research into the demographic, economic, and digital skill barriers to adoption is a crucial first step that will help communities and policymakers tailor and target effective broadband adoption solutions.”
This survey reveals that:
• 53% percent of people living in rural areas do not subscribe to broadband service at home.
• When comparing to the 57% of all households that do subscribe, there remain large gaps among key demographics:
o 74% of low-income households;
o 51% of Hispanic households; and
o 69% of seniors are without broadband.
• Approximately 170,000 children in low-income households are without access to this essential tool at home.
• 252,000 South Carolina adults say a lack of digital skills and knowledge of how to use a computer and broadband is the main reason they don’t have broadband at home.
• The biggest gap is among low-income seniors. Only 9% of low-income seniors subscribe to broadband and only 24% have a computer at home.
These results and comparisons to many others are available on Connect South Carolina’s new consumer trends widget. This interactive tool gives people the ability to view, share, and download the results. Connect South Carolina will use these survey results to target solutions in communities based on the demographic and economic barriers that the surveys indicate are most relevant to those communities.
This release comes on the heels of the FCC’s newly released plans to launch a comprehensive public-private initiative called Connect to Compete, aimed at extending digital literacy training and providing employment assistance to communities. Connect South Carolina’s parent organization, Connected Nation, is one of the top strategic advisors in the national initiative.
Connect South Carolina’s 2011 residential survey was conducted in the summer of 2011 and includes responses from 3,601 residents. The survey was conducted as part of the South Carolina Broadband Initiative (SBI) grant program, funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment of 2009.
Download the Press Release
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
5 Tips for Protecting Your Identity Online
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness month.
Below are tips to help you stay safe online:
1. Look at a Website’s privacy policy - Before submitting your name, e-mail address, or other personal information on a website, look for the site's privacy policy.
2. Look for evidence that your information is being encrypted - To protect attackers from hijacking your information, any personal information submitted online should be encrypted so that it can only be read by the appropriate recipient.
3. Do business with credible companies – Work with websites certified by an Internet trust organization such as BBBonline, TRUSTe, or WebTrust? Sites that display these logos have agreed to follow certain practices like providing a comprehensive privacy statement
4. Do not use your primary e-mail address in online submissions - Submitting your e-mail address could result in spam. If you do not want your primary e-mail account flooded with unwanted messages, consider opening an additional e-mail account for use online
5. Take advantage of options to limit exposure of private information - Default options on certain websites may be chosen for convenience, not for security. For example, avoid allowing a website to remember your password. If your password is stored, your profile and any account information you have provided on that site are readily available if an attacker gains access to your computer. Also, evaluate your settings on websites used for social networking.
Other Useful Sites and Information Sources
• United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT)
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
State and District Measures Require Students to Take Virtual Classes
By Michelle R. Davis | Education Week
Published: October 17, 2011
Two years ago, Tennessee’s Putnam County school system adopted an online-learning graduation requirement for its high school students. But district officials realized that not all students had high-speed Internet access at home, or even computers, so they came up with a variety of options to allow students to fulfill the requirement.
The state of Tennessee already mandated that all students take a class on personal finance, so Putnam County put its version online, complete with the district’s own online teachers. Students can complete the course independently before they enter 9th grade; do it at school, in a computer lab with the support of an in-house coordinator, during their four high school years; or take the course in a computer lab that includes both an in-class teacher and an online instructor. Students can also fulfill the requirement with online Advanced Placement courses or online credit-recovery classes, says Kathleen Airhart, the director of the 11,000-student Putnam County schools, based in Cookeville, Tenn.
The goal is to make sure students get an online-learning experience in a low-risk, supportive environment, Airhart says. “The reality is, when a student leaves us, whether they’re going to a four-year college, a technical college, or going into the world of work, they’re going to have to do an online course,” she says. “This helps prepare the students.”
More districts and a handful of states are starting to agree with this notion. They’re requiring students to get some form of online learning on their résumés before leaving high school.
But concerns remain about issues of student equity, particularly in rural areas, where high-speed Internet access may be uncommon or difficult.
Monday, October 17, 2011
5 Tips for Securing Your Personal Computer
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness month.
Below are tips to help you stay safe online:
1. Keep your firewall turned on: Firewalls provide protection against outside attackers by shielding your computer or network from malicious or unnecessary Internet traffic.
2. Always use good passwords for your PC:
• Don't use passwords that are based on personal information that can be easily accessed or guessed
• Don't use words that can be found in any dictionary of any language
• Develop a mnemonic for remembering complex passwords
• Use a combination of lowercase and capital letters, numbers, and special characters
• Use passphrases when you can
• Use different passwords on different systems
• Use at least 8 characters
• Change your password periodically
3. Keep all your software and your operating system up-to-date: Many vulnerabilities on a computer can be avoided with a few simple updates. Updating your software also helps with bug fixes in the software and addition of new features from the software developer.
4. Install Anti-Virus Software: Anti-virus software can identify and block many viruses before they can infect your computer. Once you install anti-virus software, it is important to keep it updated. While antivirus software, regardless of which package you choose, increases your level of protection, nothing can guarantee the security of your computer. Antivirus software is limited in its ability to protect your computer because it can only detect viruses that have signatures installed on your computer
5. Secure your wireless network at home: Wireless networks have gotten easy enough to set up that many users simply plug them in and start using the network without giving much thought to security. Nevertheless, taking a few extra minutes to configure the security features of your wireless router or access point is time well spent.
Other Useful Sites and Information Sources
• United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT)
Friday, October 14, 2011
27% of South Carolina Businesses do not use Broadband
By Wil Payton, Communications Specialist, Connected Nation
Broadband is a powerful, enabling technology that is fast becoming the engine of economic growth in America. Increasingly, businesses seeking to open or expand operations look to see not only whether a community has robust broadband access, but also whether potential workers have digital literacy skills and tools.
The 2010 Connect South Carolina Business Technology Survey finds that while nearly three out of four South Carolina businesses use broadband, some sectors still lag behind in broadband adoption.
Statewide, 73% of all South Carolina businesses subscribe to broadband. This means that approximately 29,000 South Carolina business establishments do not use broadband or benefit from the opportunities it offers.
The High Tech and Professional and Financial sectors lead in broadband adoption, with approximately 17,000 businesses in the Professional & Financial Services sector and 6,000 businesses in the High Tech sector using broadband. On the other extreme, only 64% of businesses in the Healthcare sector use broadband, which means approximately 3,000 Healthcare-related businesses do not subscribe.
Broadband adoption rates in South Carolina mirror those in other Connected Nation states by size and industry sector, with no significant differences between South Carolina businesses and the average for each industry sector and size bracket.
The economic future of communities in South Carolina depends not only upon whether robust broadband infrastructure is present but also upon whether businesses and individuals fully utilize that technology to grow and develop local economies.
Help us continue to bring broadband to more homes and businesses in South Carolina by getting involved. Follow Connected Nation and Connect South Carolina on Twitter.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Tightening your data belt can save you money
By PETER WAYNER | The New York Times
Published: October 5, 2011
The economics of an all-you-can-eat buffet are pretty easy to figure out. The restaurant makes money as long as most of the diners don’t have big appetites and enormous capacity for engorgement.
It hasn’t taken Internet service providers very long to conclude that their all-you-can-eat pricing isn’t as profitable as charging those who use more bandwidth streaming videos and music more money than those who pop on for a quick Facebook chat. Many are adopting flat-rate pricing or pricing tiers. The more you use, the more you pay. Many are even imposing limits on their customers.
Comcast, for instance, limits its customers to 250 gigabytes a month, a threshold that it estimates affects no more than a few percent of its customers. The limits are much lower for wireless data providers like the cellphone companies. Verizon, for instance, offers plans with limits of 2, 5 or 10 gigabytes a month.
Complain all you want about the new plans, but there are only two ways around the problem: Use less or pay more.
Much of the advice on how to use less bandwidth will sound a lot like what you’d hear from any dietician who catches you at the smorgasbord: eat less or at least eat the healthy foods. It’s not an emotionally satisfying answer, but when it comes to broadband, it is either that or pay more.
Like any diet plan, there are a few tips for making that easier.
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