The Infrastructure of the Internet: Telecommunications Facilities and Uneven Access

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The Internet may be available to anyone with a telephone line, but the speed at which Web pages come to residential and small business computers depends on the links that connect each user to the Internet. This research examines the geography of the Internet, specifically its three layers and the interconnections between those layers. The three layers, or scales of analysis, of the Internet's infrastructure include: the backbone layer, the point of presence (POP) layer, and the central office switch level. The project organizes and analyzes these layers using a geographic information system (GIS) to address three questions. (1) What is the degree of variation in access to the infrastructure of the Internet, including broadband (high-speed) access? (2) To what degree is that access dependent on the national, regional, and local layers of telecommunications infrastructure? (3) Why does access vary over space?The research first analyzes Internet backbones to determine the Internet accessibility of urban areas across the USA via fiber-optic lines, which vary in their bandwidth, or speed. The backbone networks link with the local telephone networks and their central office switches, which households and small businesses must use dial-up service, but which vary in digital capability. This project identifies the types of customers - office-based businesses, such as producer services and call centers, and high-density, high-income residential areas - that have been targeted for broadband. Taken together, the research identifies micro-to-macro "paths" to the Internet, differentiated by infrastructure quality or bandwidth. By analyzing historical data, the project analyzes the diffusion of Internet and particularly its broadband technology. The results from this project will generate basic understanding on Internet access or uneven access on a national basis and will contribute to the current issue of "digital divide".