MORGANTOWN — While the completed plan isn’t expected until February, the community got a first look Wednesday at the Monongalia County Commission’s effort to bring broadband to every home in the county.
During a hybrid virtual/in-person town hall, representatives of Ice Miller Whiteboard — who the county hired for $250,657 in May to provide a comprehensive connectivity plan — laid out where the effort stands and took questions from the three dozens or so, mostly online, attendees.
Early returns show about what you’d expect — the county isn’t very well connected.
“When we look at service in the county, there are a lot of folks who are not served by broadband at the current federal definition,” Project Lead Lindsay Miller said, explaining the federal standard is 25 megabits-per-second download and three megabits-per-second upload.
Download speed is the speed at which you can pull data from the Internet. Upload speed is the speed at which you can put your data online.
Miller said there are households in nearly every tract of the county, and a large number in several tracts, who don’t meet those federal numbers.
Troubling, she said, considering 100 mbs (download) and 20 mbs (upload) more closely reflects the needs of many households in which multiple family members multiple connected devices.
The main effort right now revolves around getting a clear picture of what broadband service looks like across the county despite the notoriously flawed nature of government broadband data.
Which led into one of the major themes of Wednesday’s session — survey.
A survey running until February at monfiber.servicezones.net will help identify the current level and desired level of service in the various parts of the county.
The more respondents, the better, she said.
So far, the survey has garnered over 1,700 responses with over 1,400 responses in its first four weeks. Based on the survey, 86 percent of respondents indicated they would consider signing up for a municipal network.
Additionally, 30 percent of respondents’ connectivity does not meet the minimum federal broadband definition, while 16 percent of respondents have no Internet connectivity in their homes at all.
The county has identified broadband as its primary expenditure for American Rescue Plan Act funding, of which it expects to receive at least $20 million.
Commission President Sean Sikora previously said the county should have a preliminary indication as to what implementation of a countywide broadband plan will cost in the next couple months.
Along with Ice Miller Whiteboard, representatives from partners Lit Communities and DLZ also participated in the session.
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