For the first time, our national broadband map has been updated to include actual household and business locations, along with the list of internet providers that offer service to each location. This map is important in that it will be used to help determine each state’s share of the Broadband Equity, Access Deployment’s $42.45 billion program funds. Organizations and individuals are encouraged to review the map for accuracy and submit challenges to the data.
Below is a snapshot of a portion of the city of Pawnee. Most households are shown as either having broadband available (green) or not (red), BUT some buildings do not have any “dots” and could be examples of missed locations. You can submit either a “Location Challenge” (missing or incorrect locations) or an “Availability Challenge” (service listed is not actually offered).
The Oklahoma Broadband Office expects that many eligible locations are not accurately depicted in the map, including agricultural facilities that could use broadband. Note that there are options to look at “Fixed Broadband” and “Mobile (cellular) Broadband” at the top right.
Please take the time to check your address, and share with others in your area who are concerned about poor broadband access. There are resources below (flyers, posters, social media posts) to help.
Deadline to submit challenges: January 13, 2023
What to do:
- View map https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/home
- Share with stakeholders in your county/community (resources on this link): https://www.fcc.gov/national-broadband-map-outreach-toolkit
- Aid/encourage submission of challenges where relevant (especially for those without service) https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/bdc-challenge-overview.pdf
- View video on how to submit an availability challenge: https://t.co/CowMoF3t8C
