Internet Access Assessment

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2022 identified $42.6B to build out broadband (Internet) access to all Americans.  The State of Montana was allocated $628M through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program (BEAD).  There is a prioritization of how the money will be spent, so it is important that the data that Internet Service Providers will use to request funding reflects the current service levels.  We are encouraging all Park County residents to participate in validating the data for their location.  The challenge period for the data will close on February 14th, so it is important to follow two easy steps to make changes before then.

STEP ONE

The first step is to look at the State Broadband Map at 

https://www.mtbeadchallenge.com/register/bead/map

map to see if your location is indicated by one of four categories;

1)  Red - "Unserved" (less than 25MB/3MB)

2)  Blue - "Underserved" (more than 25MB/3MB but less than 100MB/20)

3)  Gray - "Served" (more than 100MB/20MB)

4)  Green - "Funded" (funded but not yet built to the 100MB/20MB requirement)

If the location is Red, you are on the priority 1 list for funding.  If the location is Blue you are on the secondary list for funding, and if your location is Gray, there is no funding in the program for your location.  Green is already funded through another program but not yet built - so that is not a category of concern.  A speed test will determine the prioritization of funding and all unserved locations must be funded before funds can be allocated to underserved locations, so the appropriate categorization is critical.

STEP TWO

Go on the State of Montana Speed Survey link at 

https://mtspeedsurvey.com/surveys/connectmt/ 

and run a speed test.  

You need to run a speed test three times on different days between 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 pm.  The State Broadband Office will average the three tests to determine if your challenge is acceptable, so three tests over three days from 7-11 is critical.  If six or more locations in a Census Block Group are successfully challenged with the same provider then that will trigger a review of all locations in that Census Block Group so getting a neighborhood to participate is extremely valuable.