68.0° FTO: Delaware League of Local Governments and Municipalities
FROM: Broadband Team (University of DE, IPA, and Department of Technology & Information)
DATE: September 2010
SUBJECT: Broadband Awareness
In December 2009, the State of Delaware, Department of Technology and Information received $1.5M of American Recovery and Reform Act, ARRA, in support of the Statewide Broadband Data and Development, SBDD program. The program is managed by the National Technology and Information Administration, NTIA.
The main objective of this program is to create a map that provides broadband coverage. This program's goal is to increase the state's awareness and knowledge of issues surrounding broadband access and adoption through better data collection, coverage analysis, and subsequent broadband planning. Data collected by the Providers and Community Anchor Institutions will be displayed through the NTIA's national broadband map as well as a Delaware centric broadband map. These are to be used as tools to inform policymakers and provide consumers with improved information on broadband Internet services available or near to them. The importance of data collected also allows for analysis and future planning of expanding broadband in underserved and unserved communities.
A critical component of the Program is the active participation of the educators, businesses, government entities, and the citizens of the State of Delaware. We need your assistance in determining the availability of Broadband in Delaware. We are strongly encouraging you to contact your constituents to take the Delaware Broadband Internet Speed Test and Survey available on http://www.delawarespeedtest.com. The speed test and survey will test the internet upload and download speeds. It will also ask a short series of questions regarding service providers, customer satisfaction, pricing, technologies, and location information.
Please note that many of the questions are optional, but we encourage your constituents and/or members of community to fill out the entire survey to help provide the best possible feedback for the program. The results of the speed test will be kept private and will be used strictly to validate and understand broadband availability and service characteristics within the State of Delaware. Thank you for your cooperation in helping the State of Delaware to gain a better understanding of broadband access and availability.
