Thousands in Bay Area lack broadband access

http://business-news.thestreet.com/inside-bay-area/story/thousands-bay-area-lack-broadband-access-0/1

While many Bay Area residents can get home Internet access at blazingly fast speeds, tens of thousands of others in the region lack basic access to wired broadband, a report released Tuesday by the Federal Communications Commission showed.

In the Bay Area, Marin County residents are those most likely to not be able to get a wired broadband connection. Sonoma, Contra Costa and San Mateo counties also have large numbers of residents that lack access.

Those residents are among some 19 million Americans who don't have access to wired broadband. Although that number is down from 26 million last year, it shows that the government and broadband providers have work left to do, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement.

Genachowski noted that he recently visited some rural communities in Nevada and California that will soon have access to broadband services."The residents and business owners I met with in California and Nevada will finally get broadband in the coming months -- but millions more, especially in rural areas and tribal lands, are still waiting," he said.