I am doing the annual look at broadband in each county – based on maps from the Office of Broadband Development and news gathered from the last year.

Last year Benton County ranked 74 for access to broadband at speeds of 100/20; this year they have slipped to 75. In years past, Benton County has seen a great discrepancy between wired and wireless access. While I’m not tracking that this year, there is a great discrepancy between progress toward 2022 and 2026 goals, which means they have decent coverage but not at speeds that will suffice for the long term.

Last fall, Benton County was part of a project that received a $765,000 Minnesota Broadband grant. The benefits of that project would not yet be reflected in these numbers. So, there are improvements on the way.

Info on Access:

The speeds reflect the Minnesota speed goals:

• 25 Mbps down and 3 up by 2022
• 100 Mbps down and 20 up by 2026

Current ranking for 100/20 access: 75

• Benton County has worked with the Blandin Foundation
• Find more articles on broadband in Benton County. (http://tinyurl.com/zuk3zeg)
• See last year’s profile
• 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