March 26, 2024

Read the Report

Read the executive summary in English, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean and Spanish. 

For the press release, you can read the English and Chinese. 

Key Findings

1. Our internet speed and pricing analysis of 105 addresses across San Francisco found that AT&T, one of the largest internet service providers in the city, charged high-poverty addresses the same amount for slower plans compared to faster plans in low-poverty addresses. This means that higher poverty neighborhoods get less for the same price.

2. Of the nine broadband internet providers available in the Chinatown community, only one offers high-speed cable and fiber internet is virtually non-existent, meaning residents only have few options for high-speed internet. This lack of choice fuels high prices for Chinatown’s residents.

3. Almost half of Chinatown households (44%) do not have an internet broadband subscription and for those who do, the internet is slow and unreliable. 

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“One of the reasons restaurants stick to cash is because credit card machines are so slow due to poor internet, causing businesses to lose profits.”

Lily Lo, Northeast Community Federal Credit Union and BeChinatown

Resources:

• San Francisco Chronicle, Why S.F.’s Chinatown Still has So Little High-Speed Internet, 12.8.23
• San Francisco Chronicle, Why Is S.F. Chinatown’s Internet So Bad? ‘It’s Racism,’ says the person trying to fix it, 12.23.22
• San Francisco Chronicle, In S.F. Chinatown, an experiment to attract more customers: going cashless, 3.20.23
• The Markup, Los Angeles Becomes First U.S. City to Outlaw Digital Discrimination, 2.1.24
• Community Networks, LA Leads Way In Push To Leverage FCC’s New Digital Discrimination Rules For Local Action, 1.30.24
• Pilot Program to Bridge Internet Access Gap for Chinatown SRO’s Fiber to Housing, 10.13.21
• Broadband for All is California’s commitment to closing the digital divide.