The digital divide is closing, but the U.S. Census Bureau reports that 7.8% of households still didn’t have a home internet connection in 2023. That’s down from 22.8% in 2015, but it still means more than 10 million households told the government they don’t subscribe to any home internet service.

Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission reports 99.98% of all areas studied have access to broadband speeds with at least 100Mbps of download speed and 20Mbps of upload speed.

There’s a pretty big gap between the percentage of households that could get fast internet and the percentage of households that do get it, but it points to a larger truth. For everyday Americans, internet access is complicated by cost, availability, and tech skills. It’s a lot to think about,  but here’s what we learn from our in-house data:

There are five main types of home internet connection, and the type you have is the most important factor in your internet experience. Fiber and cable internet connections mean smoother streaming, faster uploads and downloads, better gameplay, and better live video chat. DSL, dial-up, and some satellite and fixed wireless connections mean more outages, laggy gameplay, unreliable bandwidth, and long waits for buffering.

Here’s a quick primer on internet tech types:

Fiber internet: The fastest and most reliable connection type, with infrastructure in about 46% of areas tracked by the FCC.

Cable internet: Fast internet with good download speeds but less reliability and occasional congestion, with infrastructure in about 82% of areas tracked by the FCC.

Fixed wireless internet: Internet that uses radio waves (including those from 5G or 4G LTE cell towers) to connect homes over the air, with infrastructure in about 77% of areas tracked by the FCC.

DSL internet: Slower, older internet that uses copper phone wires to connect customers to the internet, with infrastructure in about 41% of areas tracked by the FCC. Dial-up internet is the feeble great grandparent of DSL, but it’s almost entirely obsolete.

Satellite internet: Internet that uses ground stations, satellites in space, and small, personal receiver dishes. Minimal public infrastructure is required, but costs are high and speeds vary widely. Availability is nearly universal.

Infrastructure aside, here’s how Americans connect to the internet:

• 92% have a home internet subscription. Of those, 76.3% of internet users connect via broadband, fiber, or DSL.
• 86.8% have a cellular data plan, while 11.9% have only a cellular data plan (no home internet).
• 11.2% of people use fixed wireless internet.
• 6.6% of people have satellite internet service.
• 0.1% still rely on dial-up internet.