Mapping analyses of AT&T’s 2016 broadband deployment data reported to the FCC for Wayne County, MI (Detroit) and Lucas County, OH (Toledo) show the same pattern of “digital redlining” of low income neighborhoods as NDIA research has previously revealed in the Cleveland and Dayton areas.

The new maps, showing Census blocks in the two counties where AT&T offers fast fiber-enhanced “VDSL” broadband service — and blocks where it doesn’t — are part of NDIA’s ongoing research into the FCC’s Form 477 Fixed Broadband Deployment data for June 2016.  NDIA has found a high correlation between neighborhoods where AT&T has chosen not to deploy the newer fiber-to-the-neighborhood technology, and those with poverty rates of 35% or more.  In areas where the company hasn’t installed VDSL capacity, households as well as small businesses are still dependent on older, slower, all-copper ADSL2 service with maximum downloads speeds as low as 1.5 mbps or even 768 kbps.

For a full explanation of the data sources and the issues raised by our findings, see AT&T’s Digital Redlining Of Cleveland.

Here’s NDIA’s map of VDSL deployment vs. poverty in the Detroit area:

 

And here’s the map of Toledo:

 

See also Attorney Daryl Parks Submits Formal Complaint to FCC Against AT&T Based on NDIA Report.