The State of Arkansas received about $1.7 billion in funds from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law in November of 2021, to make broadband available to every underserved household in Arkansas. The State’s plan is to use that money to install fiber optic cable to those households that either have no access to the internet or those households where their internet speed does not meet the definition of broadband. Broadband for this initiative is defined as a minimum of 100 Mbps download speed and 25 Mbps upload speed which is considered to be adequate for things like working or learning from home, receiving home healthcare via internet, or having connectivity for news and entertainment.
For the State to determine where the “underserved” reside, they have asked every county to collect data as to the broadband access status of their county. Carroll County has a committee working on it. To assist in collecting this data, we have created an online survey and ask each of you to please take a couple minutes to fill out the survey. You can find the link to the survey on the city website or CLICK HERE:
The survey will ask you who you get your internet from (Examples Cox, T-Mobile, etc.), how much you pay for internet (you should be able to get that from your bill; however, do not include things like TV, rather just the internet service), what download speed you are paying for (should be in the plan information for your billing), and what download speed you are getting (which you would have to check by going to a website like Fast.com). It’s pretty simple. Even if you don’t have all the information the survey asks for, take the survey anyway and provide what information you have.
Also, if you know of anyone that does not have internet because it’s too expensive or not available without a large hook up fee (as is the case for some potential Cox customers), please contact them and help them fill out the survey. After all these are the truly underserved.
This initiative is essential to the future of Holiday Island. We need to get our fair share of this grant money in order for our residents to have the same quality of life as residents in other cities. It is also critical for the long term growth of Holiday Island since people will not want to live in, or will not be able to work in, an internet dead zone.
Note, if you have already filled out a survey card, you do not need to do it again online.
Thanks for helping us make this work.
Comentarios