The upcoming broadband maps were featured on Minnesota Public Radio this week. I’ve talked about the maps before. The folks at Connected Nation are mapping broadband access across the state.
The map will be unveiled next week. The initial maps are creating with notes from the providers.
They are asking citizens to help keep the providers honest by visiting their site to test and record their speed. So if you have minute – please help out by visiting the site and testing your speed. (Ironically I can’t access the page yet – we might have to wait until next week.)
Public Radio also features a few notes from former Senator Steve Kelley and Blandin’s Bernadine Joselyn. Rural access in Minnesota is better than most states – but affordability is still an issue.
There are significant technical limitations to the Connect Minnesota speed test. It does not accurately measure the connection speed that a consumer is receiving from their ISP. Please see our analysis at http://iphouse.com/blogs/blog/2009/01/27/speed-testing-your-connection/
By: Aileen Horwath on January 27, 2009
at 9:22 pm
I would agree with Aileen. I have two computers hooked to my cable modem – one wired and one wireless. The wired connection measured 9.3 Mb; the wireless connection was just over 5 Mbps. Both computers measured an upload of 1.3 Mb.
By: Bill Coleman on January 27, 2009
at 10:07 pm
This conversation has also been happening on the MN Voices Online email list:
http://tinyurl.com/cqy79d
With his permission I wanted to post Mike O’Connor’s latest comments:
i’ve forwarded Aileen’s article to the Blandin strategy board and to Rick King (Chair of the Broadband task force).
i’ve also written a cranky blog post on Urban Users. here’s the link
http://www.urbanusers.com/?p=127
i’m calling for some Smart People to dig into this and verify Aileen’s stuff — if we’ve got several confirmations from other smart network geeks, i’ll try to push for a do-over at the taskforce meeting on the 6th.
By: Ann Treacy on January 28, 2009
at 1:22 am