I don't like this trend, if there is indeed this trend exists. Wired network is more stable and secure.
Wireless is simpler. You walk into a store and 10 minutes later you have the Internet in your hand. Beats waiting for the cable guy, configuring and fighting with a modem, router, and PC.
Here in Australia wireless is not a viable option. I pay $50 (around $40 USD) for just 5GB of data. I can get better deals (but less network coverage) if I go to anither provider. But, since I use 100s of gigabytes of data a month, it's still not viable. On the otherhand I pay $110 ($85) for a landline phone line and unlimited ADSL data.
I'm connected to the NBN (Australia's National Broadband Network) Fixed Wireless which I believe uses 4G to connect to towers, but are dedicated to NBN and separate to mobile / cell towers and they are limited to a finite number of customers to ensure reliability and consistency.
Mobile data: 35 € for 30 GB Landline: 30€ for unlimited data transfer. I use mobile only when I don't have WiFi.
The amount of data that might be used is less important to most customers when companies like T-Mobile do not count the use of streaming services such as Spotify and Netflix against the monthly data allotment. A 5GB cap is a lot less restrictive when it's only affected by web browsing and email. I'm not saying it's the right way to go, but being that most Internet users consume more than create they probably see the idea of being able to consume basically unlimited amounts of data through streaming apps regardless of location as a "feature" that traditional home wired connections don't offer.
You can't assert that people are "abandoning" broadband without first establishing they were using broadband.
"Low-income Americans are still one of the biggest demographics to rely solely on their phones to go online." There's a simple explanation, ie people must have phones and if a phone can also meet the need for internet connectivity many will not pay the additional cost for wired broadband.
I only use wired Internet via cable, I do not trust wireless connections, plus browsing the web on smart-phones sucks anyway. I also don't use WIFI.
These people must not be gamers - at least beyond the free-to-pay (sic) mobile fluff. And it's not just because of Steam and other digitally distributed games; even on the consoles, physical games are getting massive patches. And if they push cloud gaming on us in the coming years, wireless-only internet would make the latency problem that much worse.
I don't like the article. The fact it uses the term 'people of color' discredits any technical message it may have. It is plain and simple disrespectful. Mrk
