The US is a long way from its goal of making broadband Internet available to all 314 million Americans. In its eighth broadband progress report, the Federal Communications Commission says 19 million Americans have no option to buy fixed broadband Internet service, and an additional 100 million Americans that do live in areas where broadband is available are not subscribers.

The FCC defines broadband as 4Mbps download speeds and 1Mbps upload speed. So, many people have Internet access that isn't counted in the report. But the US is decidedly behind many other countries. A report last year by the International Telecommunications Union showed the US having 27.6 fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, behind 15 other countries including first place Netherlands, which achieved 38.1 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.

Exactly how many people in the US have any type of Internet access is not detailed by the FCC. US Census figures from 2010 showed that in 74.2 percent of households, at least one person had Internet access at home, outside of home, or both.

Until 2010, the commission defined broadband as 200Kbps in both directions, and then adopted the current 4Mbps/1Mbps definition for the last three broadband progress reports (see this year's full report). The FCC's 2011 report identified 26 million Americans living in areas with no broadband service, so things have improved in the past year. The 19 million living in non-broadband areas today represent 6 percent of the US population.

Not surprisingly, the situation is worse in rural areas, where a quarter of the US population lacks access, and in tribal areas, where almost a third lacks access. The FCC noted progress such as expansion of LTE wireless networks, which can easily meet the 4Mbps threshold. Additionally, DOCSIS 3.0 rollouts have made networks "technically capable of 100 megabit-plus speeds" available to more than 80 percent of the population.

But there is still much work to be done, particularly in rural and tribal areas, and in building a stronger economy in which more people can afford broadband. The FCC has unveiled a Connect America Fund that will provide broadband access to nearly 400,000 residents and small business owners in the next three years. But the commission said today that the gaps in service show "broadband is not yet being deployed in a reasonable and timely fashion."