In 2014, 100 percent of Ramsey County had access to broadband. (Broadband was defined with lower speeds back then.) Today more than 99 percent of the county has access to broadband speeds of 25/3 (Mbps down/up) and 99 percent has access to the 2026 speed goals of 100/20.

In 2012, Ramsey County was looking at a partnership with a commercial provider to get fiber to government buildings and pull fiber throughout the county with an eye to an open access model that would have invited FTTH options from third party vendors. Instead they went with Comcast…

The city of St. Paul will pay Comcast more than $2 million to upgrade the data network connecting more than 100 public buildings to high-speed fiber optic cable.

Since 1998, St. Paul has received network service for free from Comcast as part of a larger agreement that allowed the company to provide cable TV to its residents.

But the network was too slow for transmitting surveillance video to the Police Department or providing decent Internet service to library patrons, said Tarek Tomes, the city’s chief information officer.

“We’re paying zero for a service that really doesn’t meet anyone’s needs,” he said.

Under the deal signed this week, the city also will pay Comcast more than $400,000 a year to provide network service over those connections.

Ramsey County is in line to receive $19,030 in CAF 2 funding to upgrade 96 locations. 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 they ranked:

• Percentage served with 25/3 or better: 99.75
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 99.39

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 they ranked:

DDI score of 26.57 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Ramsey County (http://tinyurl.com/jgz8ro7)

• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 4
  Senate: 38, 41, 42, 43, 53, 64, 65, 66, 67
  House: 38A, 41A, 41B, 42A, 42B, 43A, 43B, 53A, 64A, 64B, 65A, 65B, 66A, 66B, 67A, 67B

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!