The News Room
Contact Form Youtube

Montgomery County asks internet users to help with speed tests

Montgomery County is joining with other Virginia counties to map broadband availability by starting their own local Internet speed testing campaign. Residents with Internet access are asked to take the Accelerate Virginia speed test to help identify areas in the county in need of better access to high-speed Internet services. To take the survey and speed test please visit the website: http://acceleratevirginia.org/speedtest.

The Accelerate Virginia Internet speed test is a two-minute simple online survey and speed test that measures the overall quality and performance of your Internet connection.  Upon completion of the speed test users will receive performance details regarding their Internet connection, as well as a comparison summary based on other speed test results in your community.

Because numerous, often temporary factors affect connection speed, you may want to take the speed test more than once, at different dates and times. The average of those readings will present the most reliable overall measure of your connection capabilities.  Factors that may influence Internet speed include: configuration of computer, network or Internet congestion, and server and router speeds.
The Accelerate Virginia campaign’s goal is to collect 300-500 speed tests per county. The data will provide county officials with a more accurate understanding of broadband availability, as well as identify areas of potential need for improved services.  The more participation we have the better the assessment will be for Montgomery County.

Accelerate Virginia was launched in 2010 as an extension of the Virginia Tech eCorridors program and is responsible for the collection of consumer broadband availability data for Virginia’s  broadband mapping initiative.

The Virginia Broadband Map can help residents understand the type of broadband service available at any location in the state as well as the level of upload/download speeds that are available at that location. http://mapping.vita.virginia.gov/broadband/

If you cannot receive high speed Internet services at your address, please register your broadband dead zone at: http://www.broadband.gov/qualitytest/deadzone/

Users of Apple iPhone or Android mobile platforms are encouraged to install the free ‘FCC Broadband Test’ App to test the speed of their mobile connection.

Taken from WSLS-TV 10
Published: May 30, 2012
By: Town of Blacksburg news release

Board discusses broadband service

The road to the future hangs along wooden poles next to highways, paved with miles and miles of cable wires connecting literally everything. Broadband internet access has emerged as an expected service in the daily lives of businesses and individuals and is the great cultural and technological force of our time. While it seems everyone and everything is speeding up, though, rural areas suffer in the great megabyte race by the very nature that defines them. In counties like Orange, broadband access can be few and far between, especially for businesses, but county officials hope participation in a new statewide speed test might raise awareness of the state of the county’s wires.

Broadband access in Orange County is currently confined largely to towns of Orange and Gordonsville and the densely populated neighborhoods in the county’s eastern end, said county information technology manager Larry Clement, and that reality appears unlikely to change in the near future.

“Orange County has a very limited amount of quality broadband service, mainly centered towards the towns,” said Clement. “The problem is carriers want a certain density level [to justify installing fiber.] They want to be able to get a return on their investment in infrastructure. Miles of cable and labor are expensive. It’s not cost-beneficial for them to install five miles of cable to hook up five customers.”

During a board of supervisors’ discussion on broadband in a recent meeting, District 1 Supervisor Shannon Abbs stated that access to high-speed internet was well beyond luxury in today’s society, that citizens and businesses alike depend on the broadband in a way similar to water and sewer service and paved roads.

“It’s a quality of life factor today,” said Abbs. “With everything going to computers, people pay their bills online, file for unemployment online, do schoolwork, take online classes, telecommuting. It’s not just a luxury anymore; people rely on broadband to do all the things they need to do.”

Much of Abbs’ district is forced to use dial-up internet service simply due to a lack of broadband infrastructure in the area. For some tasks, Abbs said this entry-level speed is adequate, but is becoming less and less so for most activities.

“When you have dial-up, it’s nearly impossible to do what’s required of you for school,” she said.
Orange County Economic Development Director Karen Epps, who has initiated most of the broadband conversations before the board of supervisors, said the county’s limited broadband service impacts businesses to a larger extent than residential users.

“For businesses, it’s really limited,” said Epps. “The installation cost is so astronomical; the carriers aren’t getting a return on their investment if they don’t have a high density of users. We definitely need to improve our broadband capabilities for businesses.”

Epps said that larger internet users, such as Macmillan Publishing Services in Gordonsville, have reported occasional problems with the speed of the available service, particularly with regard to video conferencing.

A broadband map created by the state’s office of telework promotion and broadband assistance depicts Orange County’s broadband access of both mobile and fixed carriers. The map predominantly shows fixed coverage along the county’s major east-to-west thoroughfare, Route 20 and in the towns and eastern part of the county. The mobile coverage is shown in the county’s more rural sections away from the main roads.

Clement said that the state’s definition of broadband is somewhat weak in terms of what such speeds can offer residents and businesses. He said the state defines broadband internet as a downloading speed of 768kb and uploading speed of 250kb.

“It’s a little on the low end,” he said. “If people wanted to do things like video conferencing or training, it’s not really adequate.”

Given the high cost of high-speed infrastructure, Orange County’s solution to its broadband concerns, at least for residents, could come from the air rather than the land. While the traditional internet service seems to have plateaued at DSL for much of broadband coverage areas, the bristling speed with which mobile coverage has been improving make what Clement calls “myfi” perhaps a viable option for the county’s more rural sections. Clement said the current top-of-the-line coverage for mobile users, 4G offers download speeds of 3 mb and uploading at 1 mb.

“It works fine for residential, but you can’t run a company on myfi,” said Clement.
Epps recently signed up the county for what is essentially a speed test for localities in Virginia. The program, Accelerate Virginia, encourages citizens to log on an run a speed test at one’s residence in order to create a database profiling the extend of the county’s broadband needs.

“We hope to use [the database] as far as working with service providers in terms of getting them to improve coverage in our area,” said Epps.

The data collection is currently open and will end after 30 days, at which point Epps said the county will study the findings and use them to portray the need of the county.
“Increasing broadband access continues to be an issue,” she said. “We’re not the only one in this position, though it doesn’t make it better to say we’re not alone.”

Citizens can participate in the speed test by going to http://acceleratevirginia.org/.

Taken from Orange County Review
Published: May 16, 2012
By: Drew Jackson

Strike up the (broad) band: county initiates connection conversation

We are encouraged to hear the Orange County Board of Supervisors is discussing the limited broadband access in Orange County and that Orange County Economic Development Director Karen Epps is trying to do something about it.

For the most part, broadband access in Orange County is currently confined to towns of Orange and Gordonsville and the densely populated neighborhoods in the county’s eastern end and absent any dramatic changes in the county’s composition, is likely to stay that way.

Still, that doesn’t mean we have to be connection-content. As supervisor Shannon Abbs noted, broadband access is no more a luxury than paved roads and water and sewer service. It’s a fundamental need for our daily lives, whether we’re conducting commercial enterprises, online transactions or simply communicating.

Epps recently signed up the county for what is essentially a local connection speed test. The program, Accelerate Virginia, encourages citizens to log on and run a speed test from their homes which will help create a database profiling the extent of the county’s broadband needs.

“We hope to use [the database] as far as working with service providers in terms of getting them to improve coverage in our area,” said Epps. While it won’t guarantee a provider will make the kind of investment required to increase connection speeds countywide (which would be substantial), the county will at least have a better idea of its citizens’ interest in the service and where its needs are greatest.

While carriers will want a substantial density of users to justify running miles of expensive cable, the county can’t solicit potential providers without the data to support any need-based claims.

The data collection is currently open and will end after 30 days, at which point Epps said the county will study the findings and use them to portray the need of the county.

We can talk all we want about recruiting economic development, but where rail lines and highways were once primary determining factors, high-speed access is now a critical determinant among corporate considerations. This study at least attempts to measure our shortcomings so we can begin addressing them.

Citizens can participate in the speed test by going to http://acceleratevirginia.org/. Our participation is an investment in a better future for our community. Thanks to the county for getting the ball rolling.

Taken from Orange County Review
Published: May 16, 2012
By: Orange News Staff