It’s always helpful to know who is accepting CAF money. So here’s info on the latest Minnesota provider to say yes, according to the Rural Blog…

Windstream “has accepted $174,895,478 in annual, ongoing support from the Connect America Fund to expand and support broadband for over 800,000 of its rural customers in 17 states,” the Federal Communications Commission reported on Wednesday.

“The Connect America Fund support will enable Windstream to deliver broadband at speeds of at least 10 Mbps for downloads and 1 Mbps uploads to over 404,000 homes and businesses in its rural service areas nationwide where the cost of broadband deployment might otherwise be prohibitive.” However, the FCC recently redefined high-speed broadband download as 25 Mbps, something the press release did not note.

States that will benefit are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas

The FCC reports that in Minnesota that means $ 1,519,855 to serve 4,440 homes and businesses. You can visit the Windstream-Minnesota website to see if what serves they provide in your area.