Poll Highlights Inequities in How Californians Access the Internet

Some 87 percent of California households say they have high-speed internet connectivity at home, up from 84 percent last year. Yet, the number of those who can only connect to broadband at home via their smartphones has grown from 8 percent two years ago to 18 percent this year. Accessing broadband only through smartphones has interesting implications. About three in four residents with broadband access through a computing device say they go online for health information or to do financial tasks online. But fewer than half of those who have high-speed internet access only via their smartphones go online for such tasks, according to the survey of 1,628 Californians conducted by phone in six languages in May.