Families rely on fast internet access that 5G promises. (Sofatutor photo from Unsplash)
Delaware is the second-best state for 5G cellular coverage, some number crunching of federal data concludes. But it has second-worst availability of broadband with speeds of at least 1,000 megabits.
And online access is relatively cheap in the First State.
Internet access is a must-have for many families, and it’s in the news with President Biden in June announcing a $42 billion plan, called the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program, to expand high-speed internet access.
Delaware is getting $107,748,384.66 in BEAD funding, the lowest of any state.
That could be roughly justified because the state is so small and has so few people, but neither geographic size nor population completely explains disparities in funding.
Maryland and New Jersey, for instance, are getting roughly 2.5 times as much as Delaware, but their populations and areas are four to nine times higher.
Texas is getting the most, more than $3 billion. Washington, D.C., and three territories are getting less than Delaware.
Across the United States, almost all residential locations have access to broadband speeds of at least 50mbps. But streaming and gaming and households with multiple devices spur the desire for faster and faster speeds.
And many people – and governments – consider fast internet access to be essential.
That’s why the federal government has a website called Internet for All.
The “Broadband Equity Access and Deployment and State Digital Equity Planning Grant programs … will provide more than $48 billion for infrastructure deployment, skills training and access to technologies essential for Americans to connect with their communities, their democracy, and one another,” the site’s home page says.
5G today
Smarthomestarter.com recently looked a data from the Federal Communications Commission on broadband and mobile internet speeds and availability in each state. It also looked at data from the US Census Bureau on household phone expenditures.
Delaware is the second-best state for 5G cellular coverage, with speeds of at least 35mbps available across 58.32% of its small area.
In contrast, it has the second-lowest availability of broadband with speeds of 1,000mbps or more: Only 0.02% of the state can access such speeds.
The average Delaware household’s phone bill is $1,740.57 a year, which is above the national average of $1,679.96.
North Dakota topped the list in speed for fixed broadband, with 60.58% of residential locations having access to at least 1,000mbs.
New Jersey topped the list in speed for mobile broadband, covering 58.58% of its area when in an outdoor stationary environment. However, New Jersey residents average the nation’s highest phone bills: $2,142.45.
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