Benton County has been actively seeking to improve broadband for many years. They were part of the ARRA-funded, Blandin-led Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities project; it sought to increase broadband adoption. In 2015, CenturyLink was awarded $382,883 to build broadband infrastructure to serve 162 unserved households in Foley, Benton County and Balkan Township (near Chisholm in St. Louis County).

When I looked at Counties in 2015, Benton was one of the counties where there was a big discrepancy between wired and wireless access. Without including mobile access, broadband reached only 63 percent of the households; with wireless it has 93 percent coverage. (Definition of broadband was slower in 2015.)

As I said then, as a resident, I suspect that mobile access is a double-edged sword. Mobile access is better than nothing but on a practical basis, the data caps can get quite expensive, especially if you are using a mobile connection as a primary business or family connection. And wireless access does not stand them in good stand preparing for 100/20 (Mbps down/up) access since wireless doesn’t meet those speeds.

Another double edged sword is CAF 2 funding. Benton County is slated to receive $730,856 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 1,516 locations. Unfortunately CAF 2 recipients are only required to upgrade to 10/1 access. Many may choose to upgrade to better speeds but there are no requirements.

Numbers:

The Office of Broadband Development released data on broadband covered in fall of 2016, based on information gathered in July 2016. Here’s how Beltrami ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 87.61
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 14.28

Mississippi State University Extension have come up with a ranking system to gauge the digital divide index (DDI) by county. (The lower the number the better – the state average is 40.66.) Here’s how Beltrami ranked:

DDI score of 31.05 out of 100. So Benton is in a better position than the Minnesota average.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Benton County. (http://tinyurl.com/zuk3zeg)  
• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects; it includes projects from this area.
• Districts: CD 6
  Senate: 13, 14, 15
  House: 13B, 14B, 15B

I plan to profile each county in Minnesota – tracking broadband access, digital divide and annotated links to news of what’s happening with broadband in the county. I’m keeping it high level because there are 87 counties!