The News Room
Contact Form Youtube

Hark! Students to Accelerate Virginia by testing their Internet speed this holiday break

BLACKSBURG - While winter break brings a welcome reprieve from the demands of schoolwork and exams, it can also bring frustrations to those of us who must leave our lightning fast college Internet connections and return home to broadband dead zones. The irony of finally having the time to stream TV shows or play online games only to be obstructed by a slow Internet connection is disheartening.

Unfortunately, many areas of our state have limited or nonexistent access to broadband. This may only be a minor inconvenience for some (e.g., missing out on catching up on 30 Rock and having to bake Christmas cookies with your Aunt Rita instead), but it has major implications for many. Inadequate broadband services hold back many Virginia communities' economic growth since jobs that require broadband are expected to increase much more quickly than others over the next ten years.

The Accelerate Virginia campaign is working to increase awareness of the power of broadband and identify areas where access to broadband is limited or not available at all. The campaign is asking college students going home for the holidays to take a speed test of their own and then encourage their friends and family to do the same. Patrick Fay communications manager for Accelerate Virginia said, "We are asking everyone in Virginia with an Internet connection to participate by taking a speed test. And by passing the word on to their friends and family, in person or by Facebook and Twitter, students in the state can really make an impact."

Whether you have a broadband connection at home or not, please visit http://acceleratevirginia.org/speedtest/ to run a brief Internet speed test. Your input will help the campaign to create an accurate map of broadband availability in Virginia that will highlight localities that are in need of broadband infrastructure investment.

Participation in the campaign will also help you to identify alternatives to your existing Internet connection. After completing the speed test, you will receive a detailed review of your broadband connection and a summary of what others in your community are reporting about their service, including provider names, connection types, speed averages, and satisfaction ratings.

Increased access to broadband throughout Virginia will benefit all of us by facilitating economic growth. This translates to increased employment for our communities and more job opportunities for us when we graduate. Please remember to run a speed test over the holidays and encourage your family members and friends to do the same.

Sara Grant, a junior from Blacksburg, Va., majoring in communication in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, is a writer for the Accelerate Virginia campaign.

By Sarah Grant

County seeks help in pinpointing broadband service

Franklin County is the first locality to launch a statewide internet speed test campaign, and residents are being asked to help.

Called Accelerate Virginia, residents are encouraged to run speed tests from their homes and businesses to help develop an accurate map of existing broadband service locations in the county.

Data collected from the speed tests will be used to demonstrate where and what kind of internet services are currently offered to county residents.

Sandie Terry, director of information technology for the county, said about 30 percent or more of the county's population has no access to any form of broadband.

The state's first generation broadband map, initially released in 2009, misrepresented the county's broadband availability, she said.

The initial map was based upon analysis of information voluntarily contributed by public and private sector broadband stakeholders.

However, Terry said the disclaimer on the state map acknowledged the data was incomplete and the map would evolve as more data became available.

The state map depicted a majority of Franklin County as served with broadband, but this conflicted with information collected locally in the same time frame, she said.

Local data showed that hundreds of addresses throughout the county are unable to obtain any form of broadband service, Terry said.

The county and its private wireless internet service provider partner B2X plotted unmet demand based on follow-up site surveys that determined these locations could not be served by their network, usually due to terrain or trees.

By partnering with the Accelerate Virginia campaign, Terry said that widespread citizen input can generate a more realistic view of the current locations at which service providers offer broadband in the county.

Terry is encouraging county residents to help out the program.

To participate in the campaign, they are asked to run one or more Accelerate Virginia internet speed tests, available from the county's website or directly at www.acceleratevirginia.org/speedtest.

Terry said anyone, whether they have a broadband connection or not, can participate.

After completing the speed test, residents are requested to spread the word about the importance of broadband in their community and encourage their friends, family members and neighbors to run speed tests, Terry said.

If the county meets a goal of obtaining data from at least 300 speed tests, the Accelerate Virginia campaign will be able to create an accurate countywide map of reported internet service.

This mapping may be used to seek future grant funding to expand the wireless network, Terry said. The Accelerate Virginia campaign, led by Virginia Tech's eCorridors group, will be conducting other localized internet speed test campaigns throughout the state.

For those who cannot get broadband services at their address, the Federal Communications Commission is asking that it be reported to the Broadband Dead Zone.

Taken from The Franklin News Post
Written By CHARLES BOOTHE

Virginia residents contribute to broadband map

Taken from Virginia Tech News
Written By Patrick Fay
October 18, 2010


An innovative broadband mapping application developed by Virginia Tech faculty members continues to receive national attention as the federal government identifies high-speed Internet access as a critical tool for helping to jump start the economy.

eCorridors -- founded in 2000 by Erv Blythe, vice president for information technology, and led by Brenda van Gelder, executive director of converged technologies for security, safety, and resilience -- initially created a map of community broadband in 2006 to allow Blacksburg, Va., residents to compare the Internet speeds offered by providers.

The Accelerate Virginia campaign will rely on residents' input to construct a map of broadband availability in Virginia.
The Accelerate Virginia campaign will rely on residents' input to construct a map of broadband availability in Virginia.

After the map's release, eCorridors received numerous requests from state agencies in Virginia, North Carolina, and Alaska, as well as national broadband mapping projects, to adapt elements of its speed test and mapping tools.

"Our application is generally recognized across the nation as the first to integrate Web-based mapping with network performance measurement for the purpose of producing volunteered geographic information that can be analyzed spatially as a 'map' of the Internet," said Seth Peery, senior GIS (geographic information systems) architect of eCorridors.

The link to economic growth

Interest in broadband mapping spread to a wider audience in spring 2010, after the federal government released the National Broadband Plan. Created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the plan proposes increasing broadband access to help stimulate business development and job creation.

Many communities are investing in fiber optic infrastructure.Many communities are investing in fiber optic infrastructure. This generation of broadband technology uses light waves to transmit information across networks for superior Internet connection speeds.

The growing recognition of broadband as a driver of economic opportunity and growth, as well as other community benefits, prompted eCorridors' leaders to launch the Accelerate Virginia campaign, a statewide expansion of the broadband mapping project accompanied by a consumer education program.

But broadband goes beyond just stimulating the economy. The National Broadband Plan states that every American should have access to affordable high-speed Internet service. That access is critical for many human services, including health care, education, public safety, and local government.

"Over the past decade in working with Virginia regions and communities in the broadband and technology areas, it is clear that broadband access is critical to the economic development, quality of life, education, and health care needs of our citizens and business community," van Gelder said. "This campaign to assess the quality and availability of broadband connectivity will lead to direct benefits for all Virginians."

High-speed Internet access is critical for many public services, such as health care, education, public safety and local government.
High-speed Internet access is critical for many public services, such as health care, education, public safety and local government.

Consumer engagement

eCorridors' strategy of going directly to consumers for an assessment of their Internet availability and performance is different because providers have traditionally been the only sources of such information and do not typically make it publicly available. Accelerate Virginia participants are given the opportunity to run an Internet speed test and provide an evaluation of their current service.

In return, they receive a detailed review of their broadband connection and a summary of what others in their community are reporting about their service, including provider names, connection types, speed averages, and satisfaction ratings.

Combined with other data sources, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration will use the Accelerate Virginia speed test data to update Virginia's state broadband map of served, underserved, and unserved areas, as well as to validate providers' claimed coverage areas. This data will be used to identify areas in need of broadband infrastructure investment.

Grass-roots movement

To build a sufficiently large sample of residential speed tests, eCorridors is looking to obtain at least 300 speed test data points per county. The Accelerate Virginia campaign is targeting planners, educators, community leaders, student groups, and individuals across the state, educating them about the need for investment in broadband infrastructure, and recruiting them to help run mapping campaigns in their communities.

Campaign resources, such as fact sheets, brochures, door tags, and informational videos will be available for public distribution. Training workshops are also being planned to help communities carry out successful mapping campaigns. Social media sites, such as Twitter and YouTube, are being used to help users share the news about the Accelerate Virginia campaign within their own social networks.

The eCorridors team has been collecting Internet connectivity data since 2006 through a community broadband access map.The eCorridors team has been collecting Internet connectivity data since 2006 through a community broadband access map. This research served as the basis for the new Accelerate Virginia broadband mapping application. From left are Jarrod Rife, Patrick Fay, Jean Plymale, Brenda van Gelder, and Seth Peery.

"The Accelerate Virginia campaign is a consumer driven, grass-roots approach for engaging and educating the public," said Jean Plymale, who works in applications research and development for eCorridors.
"I urge everyone to participate by running a speed test and contributing other service details to the Accelerate Virginia broadband mapping campaign," Plymale said. "We have a responsibility to understand what kind of Internet services are available in Virginia."

The eCorridors program

eCorridors is an outreach program founded in 2000 and led by Virginia Tech’s information technology division. Its mission is to facilitate the development of advanced network infrastructure throughout Virginia.

eCorridors provides information to communities about options for high-speed communication technologies and the incentives for network development. In doing so, the program contributes to the state's economic growth by allowing businesses and organizations to acquire and maintain a competitive advantage.

Did you know?

Seth Peery, the senior GIS architect of eCorridors, in collaboration with the Measurement Lab, provided technical assistance to the Federal Communication Commission during the development of its broadband quality test application. At the request of Virginia’s former secretary of technology, Aneesh Chopra, Peery and the eCorridors team also developed customized speed test applications for Virginia’s public schools and libraries.

  • For more information on this topic, contact Patrick Fay at (540) 231-8490.

New Online Survey to Benchmark Virginia Business and Household Broadband Usage

The Virginia Tech eCorridors program is supporting an assessment of broadband access to determine the ways in which businesses are connecting to, and using broadband technologies (services and applications). Results from the assessment will be integrated into the Commonwealth’s comprehensive broadband mapping initiative that is currently underway in the Commonwealth and will provide the basis for future broadband policy and training initiatives.

eCorridors urges business owners to take advantage of this opportunity to participate in Virginia's statewide assessment of broadband connectivity and access. To participate in the online survey, please visit www.wired.virginia.gov. Should you prefer to complete a phone or paper survey, please contact Caroline Stolle at the Center for Innovative Technology – caroline.stolle@cit.org or 804-692-2558.

eCorridors program to begin consumer broadband mapping campaign in NRV" in the Spotlight

Taken from New River Valley News & Views
Written By Jan Gilbertson
June 09, 2010


The National Broadband Plan states that no matter where you live or how much money you make every American, every school, every library, every business, every health care and public safety facility needs to have access to affordable broadband services. Broadband has become the foundation of the American economy and the platform required for innovation and opportunity. It is the tool every child needs if they are to learn and compete in the global economy. Access to affordable broadband infrastructure is required to ensure that businesses, large and small, are created here, move here and stay in the New River Valley (NRV).

Not everyone in the NRV has access to high speed Internet, and not everyone who has access to broadband subscribes. In an effort to understand and improve this situation, Virginia Tech's eCorridors program (http://www.ecorridors.vt.edu) will introduce a new broadband mapping portal this summer, as well as a new consumer education and participation campaign in the region.

In the past, providers have been the primary source of information regarding where internet services, broadband or otherwise, are available. For the first time, Virginia residents, businesses, educational institutions, healthcare facilities, public safety groups and others are being asked to provide information about Internet service availability in their communities. To compete globally, create opportunities, and maximize investment in broadband infrastructure, Virginia needs a more precise understanding of where and what kind of internet services are available.

As a partner in the Virginia broadband mapping initiative, eCorridors is requesting assistance in the collection of at least 300 or more new speed test (http://www.ecorridors.vt.edu/maps/broadbandmap.php) data points per county to achieve a statistically significant sample size. This is necessary to adequately model current broadband availability in the state.

Combined with other data sources, the eCorridors speed test data will be used for updating Virginia's state broadband map of served, under-served, and unserved areas, as well as to validate providers claimed coverage. This data will be used to identify areas in need of affordable broadband infrastructure investment.

Be a part of history. Urge your community to participate in a local speed testing campaign. For more information and to organize a local speed test campaign in your area, contact Jean Plymale at (540) 231-2270 or vplymale@vt.edu.

FCC Survey finds 4 out of 5 Americans don't know their Broadband Speeds

Washington, DC -- Today the Federal Communications Commission released the results of a survey on the consumer broadband experience. The survey found that 80 percent of broadband users in the United States do not know the speed of their broadband connection.

The survey is part of the agency’s overall broadband speed initiative, which involves several bureaus and offices and is being coordinated by the Commission’s Consumer Task Force. Through the initiative, the agency will also measure the actual speeds that consumers receive and compare them to the speeds that broadband providers advertise.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said, “Speed matters. The more broadband subscribers know about what speeds they need and what speeds they get, the more they can make the market work and push faster speeds over broadband networks.”

Today, the Consumer Task Force announced two initiatives that will help the FCC determine the broadband speeds consumers are getting in their homes and on their mobile devices, a key recommendation in the National Broadband Plan.

In the first of these initiatives, the FCC is asking today for 10,000 volunteers to participate in a scientific study to measure home broadband speed in the U.S. Specialized hardware will be installed in the homes of volunteers to measure the performance of all the country’s major Internet service providers across geographic regions and service tiers. The FCC is partnering with SamKnows Limited in this effort, the same firm that successfully conducted a similar test in the United Kingdom. A Public Notice asking for comment on the test plan was released in April 2010 and can be found at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-10-670A1.pdf.

This study will culminate in a “State of Broadband” report to be released later this year. The tests are also a key part of the Broadband Action Agenda (described at http://www.broadband.gov/plan/broadband-action-agenda.html). The Action Agenda details a number of initiatives designed to foster competition and maximize consumer benefits across the broadband marketplace.

Anyone can register as a volunteer for this national test at www.TestMyISP.com. Volunteers will be able to track the performance of their own broadband service, as well as providing valuable data for the FCC, Internet service providers, and the public at large.

Next, the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau is issuing a Public Notice today to look at ways to measure mobile broadband speed. More and more consumers are using mobile wireless devices to access the Web, sometimes as a primary Internet connection. The Public Notice asks for input on the best ways to measure mobile broadband speeds, the ways that speed measurements can be used to help improve service, and the information consumers should have about the speed of mobile broadband coverage.

The FCC welcomes comments from all interested parties and the general public on this Public Notice. Comments can be filed through the agency’s Electronic Comment Filing System at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/ecfs/, or in other ways described in the Public Notice itself. The Public Notice can be found at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-10-988A1.pdf.

Ultimately, the FCC hopes to develop tests that help each individual consumer in the U.S. determine his or her own broadband speed. The agency took a first step in March by providing two speed tests that consumers can use at home or on their wireless phones. These consumer tests can be found at http://www.broadband.gov/qualitytest/about/. The national initiatives announced today are intended to develop more scientific and consistent broadband speed measures.

“Better information can help all consumers choose the broadband services that best meet their needs,” said Joel Gurin, Chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau of the FCC. “Today, most people just know that their home broadband speed is supposed to be ‘blazing fast.’ They need more meaningful information to know exactly what speed they need for the applications they want to run, and what provider and plan is their best choice. The difference between an inexpensive low-speed plan and an expensive, high-speed plan can be hundreds of dollars a year. Consumers need to be able to choose wisely.”

Details on Today’s Survey Results

The survey found that no demographic group had good awareness of their home broadband speed (the survey asked specifically about download speed). But there were some demographic differences. For example, 71 percent of men do not know what speed they’re getting, while the figure is 90 percent for women. With respect to age, 73 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 29 do not know their home broadband speed, while the number goes up to 88 percent of people age 65 and over.

Most Americans are satisfied with the broadband speed they are getting. Fully 91 percent of broadband users say they are “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with the speed they get at home. The comparable number for mobile broadband, which is not yet technologically capable of the same speeds as home broadband, is 71 percent satisfaction. As a point of comparison, 92 percent of cell phone users are very or somewhat satisfied with their cell phone service overall.

The FCC’s survey of consumers, conducted by Abt/SRBI and Princeton Survey Research Associates, International from April 19 to May 2, 2010, interviewed 3,005 American adults. The national random digit dial survey was conducted in English and Spanish and the sample included both landline and cell phones. For responses based on those with personal cell phones (2,463 respondents) the margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points. For responses based on home broadband users (1,742 respondents), the margin of error is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

Taken from Federal Communications Commission
Written By Rosemary Kimball
June 01, 2010


- FCC -
For Immediate Release
e-mail: rosemary.kimball@fcc.gov

News Media Contact:
Rosemary Kimball at (202) 418-0511

Breaking the Broadband Monopoly

Across the country, hundreds of local governments, public power utilities, non-profits, and cooperatives have built successful and sometimes pioneering telecommunication networks that put community needs first.

These communities are following in the footsteps of the publicly owned power networks put in place a century before. We watch history repeating itself as these new networks are built for the same reasons: Incumbents refusing to provide service or charging high rates for poor service.

Cities like Lafayette, Louisiana, and Monticello, Minnesota, offer the fastest speeds at the lowest rates in the entire country. Kutztown’s network in Pennsylvania has saved the community millions of dollars. Oklahoma City’s massive wireless mesh has helped modernize its municipal agencies. Cities in Utah have created a true broadband market with many independent service providers competing for subscribers. From DC to Santa Monica, communities have connected schools and municipal facilities, radically increasing broadband capacity without increasing telecom budgets.

These pioneering cities have had to struggle against many obstacles, often created by incumbents seeking to prevent the only real threat of competition they face. Eighteen states have passed laws that discourage publicly owned networks. When lawsuits by entrenched incumbents don’t thwart a publicly owned system, they cross-subsidize from non-competitive markets to temporarily reduce rates in an attempt to starve the infant public network of subscribers.

Despite these obstacles, more and more cities are building these networks and learning how to operate in the challenging new era in which all media is online and a high speed telecommunications network is as much a part of the essential infrastructure of a modern economy as electricity was 100 years ago.

Communities that have invested in these networks have seen tremendous benefits. Even small communities have generated millions of dollars in cumulative savings from reduced rates – caused by competition. Major employers have cited broadband networks as a deciding factor in choosing a new site and existing businesses have prospered in a more competitive environment.

Residents who subscribe to the network see the benefits of a network that puts service first; they talk to a neighbor when something goes wrong, not an offshore call center. At the municipal fiber network in Wilson, North Carolina, they talk of the “strangle effect.” If you have problems with their network, you can find someone locally to strangle. Because public entities are directly accountable to citizens, they have a stronger interest in providing good services, upgrading infrastructure, etc., than private companies who are structured to maximize profits, not community benefits. Residents who remain with private providers still get the benefits of competition, including reduced rates and increased incumbent investment.

Some publicly owned networks have decided to greatly increase competition by adopting an “open access” approach where independent service providers can use the network on equal terms. Public ownership and open access give residents and businesses the option of choosing among many providers, forcing providers to compete on the basis of service quality and price rather than simply on a historic monopoly boundary.

Perhaps the greatest benefit communities have gained from owning their telecommunications networks is self-determination. Recent court rulings enable private network owners to set their own rules, including increased charges for accessing some sites – much like a cable bill charges more for some programming. The rules are made far from where the customer resides and the criteria used to design such rules maximizes benefit to the private firm, not the community.

There is no one model for community broadband. Communities vary greatly in their needs, assets, desires, and culture, not to mention a regulatory environment that varies from state to state. This report presents case studies, evaluates existing networks, offers lessons learned, and highlights the most important issues facing both communities and policy makers at all levels. Public ownership offers the best prospect for building the networks we need to succeed in the 21st century.

Written By Christopher Mitchell
May 01, 2010
To read the full Report Download the PDF

FutureForward Blacksburg

BLACKSBURG, Va., – Virginia Tech and the Town of Blacksburg have recently submitted a joint application named “FutureForward Blacksburg” for Google's “Think Big with a Gig” experiment to build ultra-high speed fiber to the home networks in a number of locations across the country. As part of the Town of Blacksburg’s submittal, Virginia Tech Geospatial Information Sciences prepared a video that illustrates a number of applications that citizens, students, government officials, and businesses in the Town would be able to use if a gigabit Ethernet were made available to them.

Blacksburg currently has connectivity to national Tier One networks including Internet2 and National Lambda Rail; however, this high bandwidth capacity does not reach residential areas and apartment complexes. If Blacksburg is selected, Google proposes to bring gigabit fiber to the last mile, providing these users with Internet speeds 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today.

The video demonstrates how this extremely powerful Internet access could greatly enhance the town’s planning and modeling capabilities, improve emergency response communications, and enhanced long-distance medical diagnosis. Virginia Tech and the Town communities could also receive shared benefits through next generation classrooms and teaching technologies, real-time online learning atmospheres, shared virtual reality environments for research and the arts, and 3-D routing and viewshed research.

Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger is featured in the video and commented how data rich environments and just-in-time information systems will be key to the success of Virginia Tech’s new college that is currently being planned. He described it as, “highly experimental and will change the paradigm for undergraduate learning... We are going to change the way in which young people go about addressing and thinking about the problems they face in the future.”

In his own video response (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpFxfxiHUSI), Rick Boucher, Virginia Representative and chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s technology and Internet subcommittee, spoke in favor of Blacksburg as a location for Google's project, "Blacksburg's accomplishments are compelling proof that they will make optimal use of this extraordinary infrastructure that Google proposes to build. I urge Google to give serious, favorable consideration to Blacksburg as the location for their fiber to the home testbed project."

The “FutureForward Blacksburg” video is available for viewing on Virginia Tech’s eCorridors program You Tube page. The creators of the video encourage those interested in seeing Blacksburg selected as part of this experiment to make their comments known by posting a comment on the video’s page. The video can also be easily shared with other social networks by clicking the share link.

The mission of the eCorridors program at Virginia Tech is to facilitate and promote the ability for every person, organization, and community in Virginia and beyond to have the capability, at a reasonable cost, to produce and access high volume information and services in the networked world. More information on how eCorridors is working toward this objective is available at the program website (http://www.ecorridors.vt.edu).

Virginia Tech Geospatial Information Sciences is a geospatial initiative of Virginia Tech, a division of Information Technology's Strategic Partnership Initiatives and applies geospatial technologies and analytical methods in the areas of research and collaboration, safety and security, community broadband, energy and sustainability, health information technology, and lowering barriers to the use of GIS tools and data.

Related stories and links:
Watch “FutureForward Blacksburg” the video at the eCorridors YouTube page
Watch Representative Rick Boucher speak in support of Blacksburg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpFxfxiHUSI)
Virginia Tech News story - Virginia Tech, Town of Blacksburg team up to attract Google (http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2010&itemno=144)
Learn about the “Google Fiber for Communities” experiment (http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/)
Learn about the video creators at Virginia Tech GIS (http://www.gis.vt.edu/)
Test your broadband on the Virginia Tech Community Broadband Map (http://www.ecorridors.vt.edu/maps/broadbandmap.php)

IMAGE INFORMATION: FutureForward Blacksburg is the name of the application submitted by the Town of Blacksburg, VA to Google for their fiber to the home experiment, "Think Big with a Gig". The video was prepared by the VTGIS group at Virginia Tech during the month of March 2010.

Taken from eCorridors Youtube Channel
Written By Patrick Fay
March 25, 2010