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.
Wright County broadband ranking has bumped from 65 to 21!
Through Midco, Wright received state funding in the last round of grants…
Midco (Midcontinent Communications), Annandale East – $537,050. This project will build out improved broadband service to 40 unserved households, and 531 underserved households and 7 underserved businesses, in the area northeast of Annandale near Bass Lake and Clearwater Lake in Wright County. In a funding partnership with the State of Minnesota, Midco will improve broadband service levels to up to 1 Gbps upload and download, exceeding the 2026 state speed goal. Residents will be able to increase work and business development opportunities, and complete a quality education online through this extension from the broadband system Midco recently built in Annandale. The total eligible cost is $1,074,100, with a $537,050.
Historically, Wright County is home to Monticello, one of the famous of infamous municipal broadband networks out there. Monticello built their own fiber network – but in process the incumbent also built a fiber network and even sued the city. It looks like Monticello is continuing to bring in competition and looking at the numbers the providers are reaching outside the city limits.
Mediacom has announced upgrades to the Gig program in Howard Lake.
Info on Access:
| Speeds | % served 2017 | % served 2018 |
| 25/3 | 81.17 | 87.89 |
| 100/20 | 29.26 | 80.61 |
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: 21
- Find more articles on broadband in Wright County (http://tinyurl.com/h3f5qh4)
- There is a matrix of Minnesota broadband adoption projects.
- Districts: CD 6
Senate: 15, 18, 29, 30
House: 15B, 18A, 29A, 29B, 30A, 30B