In 2014, more than 99 percent of Red Lake 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 48 percent have access to the 2026 speed goals of 100/20.

Red Lake has been a leader in broadband for many years. They are always one of the top covered counties but it looks like they may need to think about broadband if they want to keep that standing at the 2026 speed goals. The good news is that Red Lake County is served by Garden Valley Telephone, Halsted and Sjoberg’s – all engaged providers. Garden Valley already has some fiber in the area; one hope is that that extend their services and/or that the others upgrade their networks.

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: 99.99
• Percentage served with 100/20 or better: 48.01

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 34.48 out of 100.

More info:

• Find more articles on broadband in Red Lake County (http://tinyurl.com/gt8g24c)
• There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
• Districts: CD 7
  Senate: 01
  House: 01B

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!