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.
No comments:
Post a Comment