Green=served Purple=underesrved Red=unserved
Rank (from 100/20 megabits per second): 37
Code: Yellow
Annually, Blandin Foundation pulls together data from the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development and broadband news to gauge progress toward the state broadband goals (25 megabits per second download/3 Mbps upload by 2022 and 100 Mbps/20 Mbps by 2026). Leaders can use this information to improve broadband access and use in their communities. To see how the state is doing overall, or to compare counties, visit the Blandin Foundation interactive map. Or check out past years’ reports: 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Pipestone County: near bottom of the broadband ranking
Pipestone County has benefited from MN Border to Border grants in the past. CenturyLink made upgrades late last year, however the new speeds do not meet the 2026 speed goals. It is unfortunate that they didn’t increase the upload speeds because it’s unlikely that they will want to upgrade in the near future so soon after an upgrade. That will leave those customers in a precarious position as demand for upload speeds increases. With COVID restrictions, we are seeing that happen more quickly.
Broadband Access:
| 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 79.73 | 79.73 | 79.73 | 44.54 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 82.97 | 81.1 | 79.73 | 79.36 |
| County | Households with computer | …with desktop or laptop | …with a smartphone | …with a tablet et al | …with other |
| State of MN | 90.3% | 81.1% | 76.5% | 59.3% | 3.5% |
| Pipestone | 83.3% | 71.1% | 66.5% | 49.0% | 3.2% |
What we learned in the past:
Pipestone County has benefited from two grants:
- 2017 – Woodstock Telephone Company – Pipestone County Wireless – GRANT $363,851
- 2015 – MVTV Wireless Middle Mile
Grant award: $808,080
In April (2019), Vast Broadband launched Gigabit access in Marshall, Pipestone and Worthington Counties. In September 2019, Woodstock Telephone’s grant-funded network was completed.
Update from 2020:
CenturyLink installed fiber around the city of Pipestone as part of a broadband upgrade that includes the installation of 25 fiber nodes throughout the community. With the upgrades, fiber-optic service will be offered at 100 Mbps downloading, 10 Mbps uploading. Unfortunately, that doesn’t meet the 2026 speed goal requirements.
Checklist:
- Find more articles on broadband in Pipestone County (http://tinyurl.com/zhjm4pe)
- 100/20 Mbps ranking: 37 (down 2)
- Has worked with Blandin: no
- Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
- Household density: 8.7
Details:
- Districts: CD 7
Senate: 22
House: 22A - Find your reps
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. I’m looking at progress toward the 2022 (25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up) and 2026 (100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up) and will code each:
- Red (yikes)
- Yellow (warning)
- Green (good shape)