Is there discrimination when it comes to internet service? Lower income residents and people of color have been more likely to be burdened by slow speeds of internet, according to a new analysis of digital inequities in U.S. cities. Research showed 27% of addresses in lower-income areas with CenturyLink were offered speeds below the federal broadband standard of 25 mbps, compared with 16% of higher-income areas. Seattle had the worst disparities among cities examined in the Pacific Northwest.
About half of its lower-income areas were offered slow internet, compared with just 19% of upper-income areas. Similarly, neighborhoods with more residents of color were also offered slow internet more frequently: 32.8% of them, compared with 18.7% of areas with more white residents.
Research also showed the worst deals were offered to the least-white neighborhoods. A spokesperson for Lumen, CenturyLink’s parent company, denied discriminatory intent and criticized current research. EarthLink also serves Seattle and Portland, but the analysis did not show evidence of income or race-related disparities.
Comcast, the primary internet service provider for both Seattle and Portland, was not included in the analysis because it doesn’t offer different speeds for the same price, a practice known as “tier flattening.” Tier flattening isn’t illegal.
Just a few years into its expansion in Seattle and Portland, however, CenturyLink’s appetite for expansion as a cable provider flagged, officials said. CenturyLink pulled out of the Portland market in 2020, and the company left the Seattle cable market in 2021, according to a spokesperson for the mayor’s office. In Portland, for example, two blocks north of the Lloyd Center on Broadway Street, CenturyLink offers an office building internet speeds of up to 15 megabits per second for $50 a month.
AT&T, Verizon, EarthLink, and CenturyLink disproportionately offered the worst internet deals to neighborhoods that were formerly redlined, whose residents are lower income and have a higher concentration of people of color than other parts of the city.
CenturyLink customers in Seattle and Portland receive wide-ranging levels of service for the same price, with poorer residents and people of color more likely to be burdened by slow speeds, according to a new analysis of digital inequities in U.S. cities.
Seattle had the worst disparities among cities examined in the Pacific Northwest. About half of its lower-income areas were offered slow internet, compared with just 19% of upper-income areas. Addresses in neighborhoods with more residents of color were also offered slow internet more frequently: 32.8% of them, compared with 18.7% of areas with more white residents.
CenturyLink offerings in Portland were also uneven, as 27% of addresses in lower-income areas were offered speeds below the federal broadband standard of 25 mbps, compared with 16% of higher-income areas. In both Portland and Seattle, neighborhoods rated “hazardous” to mortgage lenders in the mid-20th century “redlining” maps — which were used to discriminate against minority communities — were more likely to see the worst internet deals in both cities today.
The disparities in the Pacific Northwest’s two largest cities were revealed in a national investigation this fall by The Markup, a nonprofit news outlet covering technology’s impacts on society, which showed that four major internet service providers routinely offer slower speeds to some neighborhoods for the same price as higher speeds offered to other areas. The Markup analyzed service offers from CenturyLink, Verizon, AT&T and EarthLink at more than 800,000 addresses in the largest cities in 38 states.
The Markup found income-related disparities in Seattle, Portland and 17 other cities. In two-thirds of the cities where the news outlet had sufficient data to compare, the worst deals were offered to the least-white neighborhoods.
In addition to Seattle and Portland, the worst offers in 20 other cities aligned with former redlining boundaries.
A spokesperson for Lumen, CenturyLink’s parent company, denied discriminatory intent and criticized The Markup’s investigation in a statement.
“The methodology used for the report you read is deeply flawed,” said Mark Molzen in an email. “We do not engage in discriminatory practices like redlining and find the accusation offensive. While we can’t comment on behalf of other providers, we can say we do not enable services based on any consideration of race or ethnicity.”
Comcast, the primary internet service provider for both Seattle and Portland, was not included in the analysis because it doesn’t offer different speeds for the same price, a practice known as “tier flattening.” EarthLink also serves Seattle and Portland, but the analysis did not show evidence of income or race-related disparities.
Local and state officials in Oregon and Washington expressed concern but little surprise at the inconsistencies unearthed in the analysis.
“I don’t doubt at all that disparities exist in Portland,” said Rebecca Gibbons, strategic initiatives manager for Portland’s Office of Community Technology.
While Comcast and one or two other providers also serve the cities, the new data reaffirm that lower-income residents are stuck with the worst options, Gibbons told InvestigateWest.
“If a consumer has only one option, they’re beholden to that customer service level, those fees, those rates,” she said. “We would like it to be as competitive as possible.”
Oregon Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Southern Jackson County, who sits on Oregon’s Joint Committee on Information Management and Technology, said the findings showed “clearly a calculated business decision as to who will pay them for the services.”
“The result is, people are left out,” she said.
Tier flattening isn’t illegal. Although policymakers at all levels agree broadband is an essential tool for social, economic and educational empowerment, it isn’t regulated as a utility, like electricity. Providers can set their own prices, and local and state authorities can’t force them to build modernized infrastructure in areas that might be less profitable.
While advocates and government officials see an opportunity to offer additional input during the allocation of $65 billion in federal funding approved in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the money may not yield much relief for underserved urban neighborhoods.
Francella Ochillo, executive director of Next Century Cities, a national nonprofit that advocates for reliable and affordable high-speed internet for all, said The Markup’s analysis of providers shines a light on the plight of underserved residents.
“Companies have very robust communications staffers and lobbyists to make sure they convince people you are not seeing what you see with your own eyes, but we do see it with our own eyes,” Ochillo said. “And we actually have the numbers to prove it.”
But looking at data is just a first step, she said.
“We’ve set up a system where unequal outcomes are guaranteed,” she said. “If we want to have a different result, we’re going to not only have to examine but dismantle some of the practices that got us here.”
Neighborhoods left behind
The stories of CenturyLink’s expansion into Portland and Seattle closely mirror each other.
In 2015, the landline company began looking to compete in the high-speed internet market with cable companies like Comcast, which controlled the bulk of it. CenturyLink sought cable franchises and permits, and began building out its high-speed internet and cable infrastructure, officials said.
Just a few years into its expansion in Seattle and Portland, however, CenturyLink’s appetite for expansion as a cable provider flagged, officials said. Gibbons said CenturyLink pulled out of the Portland market in 2020, and the company left the Seattle cable market in 2021, according to a spokesperson for the mayor’s office.
CenturyLink remained an active internet service provider, but when it stopped expanding as a cable provider, Gibbons said, “our regulatory authority to require them to build out into every neighborhood went away.”
As a result, CenturyLink’s rollout into both cities has led to some pretty lopsided scenarios.
In Portland, for example, two blocks north of the Lloyd Center on Broadway Street, CenturyLink offers an office building internet speeds of up to 15 megabits per second for $50 a month. A mile and a half southeast, in the upper-income Laurelhurst area, residents of a house on 35th Avenue could pay $20 less per month for 200 megabits per second — a lower price for speeds more than 13 times as fast.
During its time as an internet service provider, CenturyLink has run afoul of the Washington and Oregon attorneys general over complaints about confusing and duplicate charges. In 2020, lawsuits resulted in a $6 million payout in Washington and a $4 million settlement in Oregon.
A spokesperson with the Oregon Department of Justice said the issue of tier flattening doesn’t seem to violate Oregon’s Unfair Trade Practices Act, and no cases have been brought against a broadband provider under that law.
State officials and advocates acknowledged practical factors contributing to the disparities. Building out infrastructure is expensive, and businesses choose to do it in areas where they think they can make a profit on the costs.
But, Ochillo said, “Involuntary exclusion has a discriminatory impact, whether or not it’s what you intended.
“Communities know when their students can’t go to school online, when their small businesses don’t operate with the same type of resilience, when they don’t have the same type of telehealth options as other people.”
Lots of money, few regulations
Internet service providers, or ISPs, also point to their participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program as proof of their commitment to advancing digital equity.
The federal program, which launched in 2021 to replace an older broadband program, subsidizes internet for lower-income households to the tune of $30 a month, or $75 for households on Indian reservations. Many different indicators of economic need can qualify a household for participation in the program, which is managed by the Federal Communications Commission.
Enrollment is low. Data from mid-2022 show only 27% of eligible households in Portland and Seattle have signed up for the program.
Officials offered a few reasons why that might be. Marsh, the Oregon state representative, criticized the program for being too dependent on ISPs also participating, and Gibbons called the registration requirements “way too burdensome.”
Some aspects of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act indicate that the federal government is beginning to pay attention to how it can more actively tackle digital inequities.
For the first time, the FCC in March began soliciting comments on digital discrimination and equity including “how to implement provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that require the FCC to combat digital discrimination, and to promote equal access to broadband across the country, regardless of income level, ethnicity, race, religion or national origin.”
The infrastructure act funding also allows states and localities new opportunities to weigh in before funding is allocated.
In late November, the FCC published its latest broadband map. It is the primary resource the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the executive branch office tasked with allocating funding, will use to make decisions. The map is based on self-reported data from the ISPs.
“From what we've seen in the maps, they are dramatically overstating what their true coverage is,” said Evan Marwell, CEO of EducationSuperHighway, a digital equity advocacy nonprofit.
From now through January, the FCC is accepting challenges from states to fine-tune the maps. The Washington Department of Commerce and the Oregon Broadband Office have circulated news releases requesting public input on the FCC maps, including information on how to submit challenges.
But there is a caveat for Portland and Seattle: Despite the billions of dollars flowing, most officials expressed doubt that urban residents will see much of it.
That’s because Congress required states to first spend the infrastructure act money on areas that are “unserved,” or considered not to have broadband access at all. Neighborhoods where an ISP already provides service, however limited, won’t likely be touched until the rural, remote areas are taken care of first.
It’s a sore point for city and state officials.
“Yes, rural communities where there’s absolutely no access — we need to be prioritizing them,” Gibbons said. “But when you look at the numbers of communities and are using an equity lens, your Black, Indigenous people of color, people with disabilities, the majority of them live in urban communities.”
Ochillo said federal policy shifts are needed for widespread change.
“The ISPs mentioned in the report get a ton of government subsidies,” she said. “If we know they are getting ... public funds, why aren’t we setting up systems where they have to be accountable to the public?”
Instead, she said, “We’ve set up a system where unequal outcomes are guaranteed.”
InvestigateWest (invw.org) is an independent news nonprofit dedicated to investigative journalism in the Pacific Northwest. Reporter Kaylee Tornay can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Three months after a Madison Valley massage and wellness spa owner was attacked by a man who tried to rape and rob her at knifepoint, it was a Fremont neighborhood colleague who helped Seattle Police arrest her suspected assailant last week.
On Monday’s Dori Monson Show, spa owner Amber Myers credited her friend and fellow massage therapist, Richard, with “absolutely scouring the Internet, kind of relentlessly” searching for images of the man authorities believe committed the mid-day attack on Myers in late August.
Using doorbell video camera images of other alleged crimes throughout Seattle, Richard used his amateur sleuthing skills and social media to point police toward the recent movements of suspect Jordan Alexander, 33.
When one Ballard-area home video popped up on Nextdoor, showing a man resembling Alexander allegedly stealing someone’s porch furniture, Richard began tracking related social media threads and posts in nearby neighborhoods, she said.
“He was able to see where people had seen him (Alexander) and were able to point officers to all those locations,” Myers continued.
Armed with that information, Seattle Police officers arrested Alexander in the University District Dec. 1 while they were there are on unrelated response, SPD reported.
“It almost sounds miraculous,” Dori told Myers. “There are so many attempted home break-ins and so many Ring camera videos that it seems like a needle-in-a-haystack to find the guy who attacked you.”
“That’s why I’m so thankful to have the friend I have,” she responded. “He recognized that this person is a career criminal, so he’s probably still in town, probably still committing crimes. The odds are he’s going to show up on somebody’s security camera.”
At the time of the attack on Myers, Alexander had escaped from a work release program. He qualified for the release after serving 10 months of a 48-month sentence for bank robbery. After threatening Myers inside her business on Aug. 31, Alexander allegedly bolted after a colleague returned to the spa and interrupted the attack. Left behind: A package filled with knives.
In fact, it was security camera images of Alexander that helped Myers identify him to detectives after her assault. When he entered her Madison Valley business three months ago, he was wearing an orange hardhat and appeared to be making a delivery. Other older images provided by Seattle Police show Alexander dressing as a woman in a head scarf. Records show Alexander has 22 other prior arrests – including charges of theft, robbery, harassment, assault and domestic violence.
“It’s shocking how that even happens,” Myers told Dori.
Alexander is now charged with attempted robbery with a deadly weapon and attempted rape with a deadly weapon in her case, she added.
When the case comes to trial, Dori asked, how will Myers feel about facing Alexander?
“On one hand, I’m really psyched. I like the idea of revenge,” she said. On the other hand? Myers said she feels “queasy” about having to look directly at him, adding that “it needs to happen. I would like to see him put away for good this time.”
Listen to Dori Monson weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
Ed Ball of Seattle with beers in hand before heading to Qatar for the World Cup last month. (Twitter photo via @AlcoholinQ)
Ed Ball is back in Seattle after spending 10 days traveling to the World Cup in Qatar. But his legacy lives on on the internet.
Ball is the creator of the Qatar Alcohol Map, a project he took on earlier this year as a way to help fans of soccer — and drinking — find places to imbibe in a nation where such activity is not part of the culture.
The map pinpoints nearly 200 restaurants, bars and clubs that serve alcohol in the capital city of Doha. An accompanying spreadsheet offers up details such as the closet stadiums and train stations to drinking spots, their websites, menu links and more.
Ball, who does outside aerospace sales for chemical distribution company Cascade Columbia, lives in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood with his wife Sarah and their two dogs. He’s been a soccer fan all his life, supporting the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams for as long as he can remember.
When he and his wife made plans earlier this year to attend the World Cup, he began work on a Google map to satisfy his other love — beer.
“I put in over 100 hours on it,” Ball told GeekWire this week. “Was always updating and taking suggestions, making small changes and additions.”
The 2022 World Cup Qatar Alcohol Map by Ed Ball shows spots where soccer fans can get a drink in the country. (Google My Maps screenshot)
A Twitter page dedicated to the project, which has fewer than 300 followers, shows Ball in one tweet sporting a ‘Merica T-shirt, USA scarf and stars and stripes socks as he chugs two pints of beer before he traveled to Qatar.
He and his wife spent seven days in Doha and three in Dubai. He estimates they hit up 15 different drinking establishments while traveling.
“It was amazing to say the least,” Ball said.
In a recap journal of his trip that he shared with GeekWire, Ball details his daily observations as an American fan in the Middle East. One example: “Day 1 — I decided to push my luck tonight and really see what this ‘beer ban’ was all about. I went with the tasteful ‘USA DRINKING TEAM’ T-shirt in big bold letters …”
Ball, who previously traveled to Brazil to see the 2014 World Cup, won’t have to go quite so far next time — or build a map to find his favorite bars. The 2026 World Cup will be hosted in North America and Seattle is one of 11 U.S. cities where games will be held.
Asked whether drinking made it easier to stomach the USMNT loss to The Netherlands in the Round of 16 last weekend, Ball laughed.
“It always does,” he said. “But I have high hopes for 2026!”
As a result, CenturyLink’s rollout into both cities has led to some pretty lopsided scenarios.
In Portland, for example, two blocks north of the Lloyd Center on Broadway Street, CenturyLink offers an office building internet speeds of up to 15 megabits per second for $50 a month. A mile and a half southeast, in the upper-income Laurelhurst area, residents of a house on 35th Avenue could pay $20 less per month for 200 megabits per second — a lower price for speeds more than 13 times as fast.
During its time as an internet service provider, CenturyLink has run afoul of the Washington and Oregon attorneys general over complaints about confusing and duplicate charges. In 2020, lawsuits resulted in a $6 million payout in Washington and a $4 million settlement in Oregon.
A spokesperson with the Oregon Department of Justice said the issue of tier flattening doesn’t seem to violate Oregon’s Unfair Trade Practices Act, and no cases have been brought against a broadband provider under that law.
State officials and advocates acknowledged practical factors contributing to the disparities. Building out infrastructure is expensive, and businesses choose to do it in areas where they think they can make a profit on the costs.
But, Ochillo said, “Involuntary exclusion has a discriminatory impact, whether or not it’s what you intended.
“Communities know when their students can’t go to school online, when their small businesses don’t operate with the same type of resilience, when they don’t have the same type of telehealth options as other people.”
Lots of money, few regulations
Internet service providers, or ISPs, also point to their participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program as proof of their commitment to advancing digital equity.
The federal program, which launched in 2021 to replace an older broadband program, subsidizes internet for lower-income households to the tune of $30 a month, or $75 for households on Indian reservations. Many different indicators of economic need can qualify a household for participation in the program, which is managed by the Federal Communications Commission.
Enrollment is low. Data from mid-2022 show only 27% of eligible households in Portland and Seattle have signed up for the program.
Officials offered a few reasons why that might be. Marsh, the Oregon state representative, criticized the program for being too dependent on ISPs also participating, and Gibbons called the registration requirements “way too burdensome.”
Some aspects of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act indicate that the federal government is beginning to pay attention to how it can more actively tackle digital inequities.
For the first time, the FCC in March began soliciting comments on digital discrimination and equity including “how to implement provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that require the FCC to combat digital discrimination, and to promote equal access to broadband across the country, regardless of income level, ethnicity, race, religion or national origin.”
The infrastructure act funding also allows states and localities new opportunities to weigh in before funding is allocated.
In late November, the FCC published its latest broadband map. It is the primary resource the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the executive branch office tasked with allocating funding, will use to make decisions. The map is based on self-reported data from the ISPs.
“From what we’ve seen in the maps, they are dramatically overstating what their true coverage is,” said Evan Marwell, CEO of EducationSuperHighway, a digital equity advocacy nonprofit.
From now through January, the FCC is accepting challenges from states to fine-tune the maps. The Washington Department of Commerce and the Oregon Broadband Office have circulated news releases requesting public input on the FCC maps, including information on how to submit challenges.
But there is a caveat for Portland and Seattle: Despite the billions of dollars flowing, most officials expressed doubt that urban residents will see much of it.
That’s because Congress required states to first spend the infrastructure act money on areas that are “unserved,” or considered not to have broadband access at all. Neighborhoods where an ISP already provides service, however limited, won’t likely be touched until the rural, remote areas are taken care of first.
It’s a sore point for city and state officials.
“Yes, rural communities where there’s absolutely no access — we need to be prioritizing them,” Gibbons said. “But when you look at the numbers of communities and are using an equity lens, your Black, Indigenous people of color, people with disabilities, the majority of them live in urban communities.”
Ochillo said federal policy shifts are needed for widespread change.
“The ISPs mentioned in the report get a ton of government subsidies,” she said. “If we know they are getting … public funds, why aren’t we setting up systems where they have to be accountable to the public?”
Instead, she said, “We’ve set up a system where unequal outcomes are guaranteed.”
InvestigateWest (invw.org) is an independent news nonprofit dedicated to investigative journalism in the Pacific Northwest. Reporter Kaylee Tornay can be reached at kaylee@invw.org.
The recent economic turmoil has put tremendous pressure on organizations to explore ways to reduce costs across all areas of their business—and IT is no exception. Although most companies have implemented some level of technology to improve staff productivity, the cost of maintaining and supporting computer systems and ensuring continual end-user satisfaction can be significant.
Fortunately, there are now attractive alternatives for small and mid-size businesses (SMB) to significantly reduce their IT budgets while simultaneously improving the uptime, effectiveness and satisfaction of their investments in computers and technology.
SMB’s are typically limited to three types of models to manage and support their computers
The first model is to invest and build out an internal IT Department. This option is by far the most costly to setup and maintain. Most organizations will need to budget about $120,000 for just a single IT support professional. In the Washington DC marketplace, an experienced senior tech will command an annual salary of $80,000-$100,000. With benefits ($10,000), overhead ($5,000), training ($5,000), recruiter fees ($15,000) and required software tools and equipment ($10,000)—these costs quickly grow. Given the high demand for quality IT staff in our area, finding, managing, retaining and developing your technical person can be a difficult and time consuming process. Furthermore, based on industry standard turnover rates for IT staff, you will need to restart your recruitment process every two years!
Another alternative is to outsource the support of your IT department to a sole proprietor or independent IT consultant. This initially attractive low cost alternative can actually be very difficult to make successful. However, these individuals can easily be found online, or through a referral from a friend or colleague.
Their resumes may contain many industry “buzz words” but their experience and skills are often focused on just a few technologies. More importantly, their limited resources do not allow them to scale to the cyclical needs of your business and they have few resources to respond to the ongoing demands of more than one account at one time. Furthermore, almost all have not made the substantial investment in system management tools and applications and are therefore unable to offer Service Level Agreements (SLA’s). As such, you should be prepared to churn through several people before securing the one you feel can adequately support your business.
A final alternative is to outsource your needs to a dedicated IT Support company or Managed Services Provider (MSP). This option will save you 30-50% of the cost of the in-house model yet you will receive higher levels of service and response than either of the other support models. There are many variations on this model and you need to be diligent in selecting a partner that has a comprehensive service offering that can respond to your varied IT support needs and requirements.
It is recommended to select a company that offers fixed-fee pricing, utilizes a team of IT professionals that each perform specialized tasks and roles, has staff members with multiple technical certifications, leverages industry leading technologies to effectively manage your environment, has documented best practices processes and procedures, performs regularly scheduled onsite visits combined with unlimited remote support as well as a trusted partner that can recommend and successfully implement new technology in support of your business goals and objectives.
There is no doubt that you have heard about VoIP by now. It’s made headlines and is plastered everywhere both in online and TV advertisements. Just in case you haven’t caught on to the hype yet, VoIP is the abbreviated term for Voice over Internet Protocol. Voice over Internet Protocol is basically the ability to communicate on a phone over your Internet connection. With VoIP, the promise is the ability to make local and global long-distance calls at a significantly lower rate than over a plain old telephone line through your local carrier.
The VoIP trend has caught on and large enterprises all over the globe are adopting this new technology to reduce their cost of business communications which may include fax, conference calling, along with streaming video applications. VoIP has been around for some time, but it has only been recently that it has finally matured to the stage worthy of replacing everyday phone use. At the household level, it is certain by now that you are compelled to embrace this technology somewhat, but are not sure how to go about it or even if this technology has any real benefit for your family.
You must have an Internet connection. No, not your 56k dial-up connection, but an actual high-speed Internet connection. This can be cable, satellite, or DSL Internet, but you will need high-speed Internet for VoIP to function properly and become your new calling station. Dialup just doesn’t have the capacity or speed to transfer voice digitally without significant quality loss. A company named SpeakEasy has recently come out with a new DSL product that requires no current phone line for high-speed Internet if DSL is your current favorite of broadband services and if you are planning on replacing your current phone service with VoIP.
You will need what is called a gateway. The gateway is connected between your computer and the Ethernet modem. The VoIP gateway is where your phone line will be plugged into. Gateways enable freedom from possible computer problems that can shut down calling capabilities or deteriorate voice quality. Computer crashes, slow memory, and many other computer problems plague us in everyday life, you do not want to plague your ability to make phone calls. Gateways are specifically designed for VoIP phones but adapters are available for current phones should you not want to buy a brand-new phone. VoIP providers usually have the adapters available for sale so you don’t have to shop around for one yourself. Before you write off buying a new phone, however, video phones are the newest product line and it won’t be long before this trend explodes.
You may want to get your video phone so you aren’t left out of exciting face-to-face conversations with friends and relatives when they get theirs. The services included with VoIP usually include all the convenient bells and whistles your current phone service provides including your own local VoIP telephone number, call waiting, voice messaging, 3-way calling, and more. There are some important things to remember with VoIP before you go diving into this feature-rich voice technology. You should check with your VoIP provider for local 911 emergency coverage. Some VoIP providers charge extra on a monthly basis for both 911 and 411 access so make sure you know how much it is going to cost you before committing to a calling contract. One last important thing to remember is that your gateway is reliant on electricity to function. This means power outages will put your phone line out of service, but then isn’t your phone already only functional with electricity these days?
