The Daily Yonder recently did a story on how well Cook County has done with beating COVID…
What if I could show you a rural county where vaccination rates are leading the way, surpassing statewide trends and even beating out core metro counties? A rural county where transmission rates have remained low and local businesses helped lead the way on masking and social distancing? A rural county where, more than a year later, no local residents have lost their lives to Covid-19?
You know where this is going. To show you all of these things, I would show you Cook County, Minnesota.
The article mentions the role of broadband…
In recounting it all, Grinager is also quick to address another issue that must be confronted in any rural story like this: “Broadband hasn’t been an issue. We actually have really good broadband access here,” she said.
It makes sense; Cook County ranks number 14 (out of 87) for broadband access at speeds of 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps down.
Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a virtual listening session on the digital divide affecting many parts of America.
A Minnesota woman, who is a college student and mother, was able to relay her story to the White House this week.
Amanda Schermerhorn, federal legislative advocacy fellow for Lead Minnesota, a recent graduate of Minnesota State Community and Technical College and mother of four, talked about her balancing act, which included helping her kids with remote learning, while also trying to manage her online classes.
“I found myself hiding in my car on my mobile hotspot, often, trying to do my work while my kids were on their Zoom classes, or even in the parking lot of my closed college campus,” Schermerhorn outlined.
Schermerhorn plans to further her college career and work as a civil-rights attorney. She emphasized her family was able to persist.
Advocates for expanding broadband access say such examples are too common. The Biden administration proposed $100 billion in broadband funding in its infrastructure plan. And while boosting access has bipartisan support in Congress, Republicans have said the overall public-works plan is too large.
Schermerhorn pointed out her family’s rural setting has played a large role in their inability to stay connected at a level that meets their needs.
“We don’t have fiber-optic cables running through our home,” Schermerhorn explained. “They run under the road near our home, but that’s nearly two football fields away.”
Construction has begun on a new high-speed fiber broadband network in Hastings, MN that will provide residents and businesses with access to a next generation, all fiber-optic network.
Winona, MN based Hiawatha Broadband Communications (HBC) is building the high-speed fiber network that upon completion, will be capable of delivering speeds of up to 10 Gigabits. The company expects to be delivering its high-speed Internet and Phone services to approximately 1,500 homes on the city’s southwestern edge by the end of this year.
Hastings is the latest community that will receive access to HBC’s fiber network. The company recently completed Fiber-To-The-Premises (FTTP) projects in the cities of Chatfield and Cannon Falls, in addition to several smaller rural communities.
HBC’s relationship with Dakota County and Dakota Electric made expansion into the Hastings community a logical move.
“As a company, we have been working with those two entities for the past several years, running fiber to substations and for other applications,” said HBC president Dan Pecarina. “With the necessary infrastructure already in place, our decision to grow here was much easier to make.”
Jim Kronebusch, HBC VP of Technology said HBC will utilizing XGS-PON technology as part of this project. This new technology will allow delivery of the fastest broadband speeds in the area, up to 10 Gigabits.
“The best part about deploying fiber optic networks is light has far less limitations than any other medium, such as copper cable,” said Kronebusch. “We can deploy 10 Gigabit speeds for upload and download now, however the future is capable of hundreds of Gigabits in both directions with simple updates to the electronics.”
Leading-edge technology will also be deployed in customer homes allowing them to take full advantage of ultra-fast Internet speeds and management of their home WiFi network.
“The wireless routers that we deploy in customer’s homes are WiFi 6 capable, extremely powerful, highly reliable, and exceptionally versatile,” according to Kronebusch. “If needed, our Mesh WiFi extenders will fully cover any size and style of home. Our HBC GigaHome app puts customers in control of their home network, however if assistance is needed, HBC’s Wizards Technical Support group can remotely assist with any questions without the need to enter your home. We offer support in ways the Big Box store devices cannot.”
Many may wonder why expand into a city with an existing service provider when rural broadband access is needed?
Pecarina explains, “There are times that we need to build networks in higher density communities in order to help fund the extremely high cost of rural broadband expansion. HBC currently delivers services to customers in 30 rural communities in southeastern and central Minnesota, with average populations of about 1,500 people. HBC has completed several rural expansion projects over the last several years. Building the network in Hastings with bigger city density, will help us reinvest more funding into rural connectivity. This enables us to bring broadband services to more households allowing for remote learning and working,” he said. “We also have an extensive wireless broadband network that is providing a connection for families across southeastern and into central Minnesota and Western Wisconsin.”
With an emphasis on local service, HBC is currently remodeling an office location in the Hastings Marketplace with a planned opening date of July 1st. In addition to two customer care representatives, the office will also staff an in-house HBC Wizards Technical Support technician as well as local service technicians.
“When our customers call us with an issue or question, they will be not be talking with someone in a call center halfway across the world, they will be speaking with someone who is working in their community or in one of our seven other Southeast Minnesota offices,” Pecarina said.
HBC has completed several broadband projects over the past year in Dakota County including F-T-T-P networks to an area along Highway 46, and the homes and businesses in Nininger Township and Miesville.
This guide lays out how to a) get to the heart of patrons’ healthcare needs, b) create something that’s never been done in your community before, and c) market your telehealth and broadband grant proposal. More than video chats, telehealth uses intranets and Internet networks to observe, diagnose, initiate or otherwise medically intervene, administer, monitor, record, and/or report on the continuum of care people receive when ill, injured, or wanting to stay well. I’ll take this definition one step further and differentiate between 1) real-time telehealth, 2) store-and-forward telehealth, and 3) “passive” telehealth.
A little more info…
This guide lays out a straightforward needs assessment process so you get a representative portrait of how telehealth can benefit the community. Libraries reach out and touch virtually everyone in their communities across the entire economic spectrum, so it’s quite exciting to imagine telehealth capabilities at work. Healthcare professionals weigh in on how to get the maximum impact from telehealth technology in your library. The guide also gives you tips and pointers on getting the best from your IT investment. Not only does it address access to broadband but also broadband and telehealth adoption and training. Ultimately, it takes funding to transform community dreams into reality. The guide offers insights into federal grant programs that fund libraries and telehealth: the FCC’s E-rate program, the Institute for Museums and Library Services (IMLS), and Health & Human Services (HHS), plus links to other valuable resources that help you.
The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) has released a study on Student Home Connectivity. It looks at how students were able to get online from home in 13 US school districts. They look at speeds, devices, mobility and other factors that impact a student’s ability to do their homework. School districts include urban, rural and suburban school districts with an eye toward providing actionable recommendations for policymakers.
Here’s a summary of their findings…
The findings and recommendations in this report are divided into four distinct topics. The recommendations in this report should be considered a guide for school leaders to support local decisions. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to implementing supports for student home internet connectivity. In fact, it is evident that no one solution will meet the needs of all students. Therefore, school districts must use a variety of strategies and interventions to ensure digital equity. The findings in this report are organized into four topics:
Learning with Video is Essential for Education
Students are Mobile and Rely on WiFi
Certain Communities, Especially Remote and Rural Areas, Require More Support and Resources
The Remote Learning Experience is Significantly Impacted by Device Quality
Learning with Video is Essential for Education
Over 85% of network traffic in remote learning is used for video (both synchronous and asynchronous).
A sufficient upload speed is critical for uninterrupted participation in synchronous video.
A sufficient download speed is critical for uninterrupted viewing of synchronous or asynchronous video.
Video-intensive content and applications are increasing in use and this trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.
Students are Mobile and Rely on WiFi
Many students participate in online learning activities outside of the student’s home, including joining from peers’ homes, and even attending classes from other cities, states, and countries.
92% of students use WiFi instead of a wired connection, which makes it critical to address home WiFi issues.
Alongside district-provided devices, students often concurrently use mobile devices, such as their personal phone or tablet, which contributes to increased home bandwidth needs.
Certain Communities, Especially in Remote and Rural Areas, Require More Support and Resources
Students in more remote or rural areas most often have limited internet access.
Students working in areas with a large concentration of students may experience poor connectivity.
Even students from higher socioeconomic families have frequent problems in remote learning/online meeting experiences.
The Remote Learning Experience is Significantly Impacted by Device Quality
Quality of student experience can be impacted by age, type, and quality of device, as well as device configuration (i.e., user authentication and network filtering tools).
Student experience can be improved by routinely collecting datasets that provide insight into the student use of district-provided devices.
Thanks so much to everyone who came to the Lunch Bunch today. There was no focused topic – we heard about what folks are doing and what questions are coming up. Highlight is funding. Folks are wondering how the various federal, county and state streams of funding are going to work together. Can ARPA (American Recovery Plan Act) funding go to areas that have qualified for RDOF? It seems like maybe. Will state grants come from the state or federal budget? Which and how will folks decide which buckets are the best fit for funding broadband? How can we manage the Emergency Broadband Benefits for households?
So many questions and a lot of educated guesses and some shared resources – also shared from the chat below.. The video is very much like eavesdropping on a conversation but I thought I’d share for folks who want to know.
This research addresses these questions through a survey of subscribers to Comcast’s Internet Essentials pro[1]gram. The 2020 survey was fielded prior to the pandemic; it has a total of 618 respondents. The research also has a longitudinal design by which 218 respondents from a 2018 survey were called back in 2020.
They look at three questions:
How does having access at home shape people’s online behavior?
What factors may influence people’s online behavior once they subscribe?
Does having home internet access affect how people view their lives?
Here are the high level findings:
A study of Comcast Internet Essentials customers finds that home broadband service has…
A home access effect: 81% of IE subscribers say it helps a lot in carrying out online tasks, which in turn is correlated with:
Acquiring more computing devices
Expanding the scope of online activities
Optimism about the future
A digital skills effect, which is limited to the 34% of IE users who have had formal digital skills training.
Skills training is linked to higher levels of confidence in digital skills
This, in turn, has a link to greater internet use for education and other purposes
There is a correlation between digital skills training and people’s optimism about their futures
Looking at people’s digital skills training experience shows that:
Education is a large motivator for pursuing training
Learning how to better manage privacy and security of personal information also plays a role
Both in-person and online modes of training matter to users.
The time and location of training matters to those who pursue it, and many say a time that better fits their schedules would improve the training experience
InForum reports that the events of 2020 have increased the need for great mental health services…
Common reasons people have sought therapy recently have been anxiety; depression; stress about the pandemic, parenting or job stability; loneliness; or increased substance use. Clabaugh said many clients are also grieving, whether it be the loss of friends or family to the pandemic or the loss of a job or stability in life. People also have been stressed about political events like the 2020 presidential election, or worry about various conspiracy theories online regarding politics and the pandemic.
To meet the increased demand, counseling centers have hired more clinicians in the last year, and some continue to add more therapists to take on new patients. Erickson said the appointment openings for new clinicians will fill within a week or two, and then will have a three- to four-week waiting list like the rest of the clinicians. Clabaugh said when she opened Insight Counseling almost four years ago, she planned to have two or three therapists, but now she has 20 because the demand has always been so high.
Telehealth has helped counselors reach more people…
At Arrowhead Psychological Clinic, psychologist Dave Plude sees clients from Sandstone to Ely, and from Brainerd to Grand Marais. For many clients, the use of video or phone sessions has been a more convenient option in many ways. Plude said once clients overcame the learning curve of the technology, many people would rather call in from home or their cars than drive up to four hours round-trip for an hourlong session.
“It’s been kind of fun,” he said. “It’s enjoyable to be able to offer good clinical care to people in smaller towns who might not have as much access to it historically.”
It looks like virtual is here to stay for a while…
While telehealth has been offered at many clinics for a while now, it’s never been used as much as it has been in the pandemic. At Arrowhead, Plude said last summer, 80% of their sessions were via video or phone, and they went to 100% virtual last fall during the surge of COVID-19 cases. While many are now returning to in-person sessions, Plude said quite a few are fine with staying virtual. Some will start sessions in person, then switch to telehealth after they get comfortable with their therapist.
A permanent change in policy would make it easier…
U.S. senators introduced a bill at the beginning of May to continue access to telehealth services with Medicare after the pandemic. CONNECT for Health is one of more than 20 bills introduced this Congress about the future of telehealth.
But regardless of the specifics of insurance coverage or other future rules related to telehealth therapy services, all three therapists said they plan to continue offering video sessions at their clinics.
Just a reminder that we’re meeting Wednesday (tomorrow) to chat about Digital Use and Inclusion. In the spirit of summer starting – it’s an open topic day. So please bring your questions, your answers, your updates. We’re happy for it all.
I know the Emergency Broadband Benefits have been a hot topic on various chat groups. The MN legislature is a limbo – the budget spreadsheets are expected on Friday if anyone has more info on that. Or I just did a some quick research on telehealth. In other words, we’re wide open.
WCCO found the successes and the future of the practice for some patients in outstate Minnesota.
A former firefighter and medic, it was a bad fall after retirement that put Bart Cedergren in a wheelchair.
He lives up north with his wife. The three doctor visits a month could take much of the day, but are now done in a fraction of the time because they’re all online.
“Telemedicine I think is the wave of the future,” Cedergren said. “The only thing we go in for these days are basically lab.”
Family Nurse Practitioner Janelle Terhaar now dedicates one full office day a week in Long Prairie to her telehealth patients.
“We went from maybe having one or two a month to now we’re maybe having steady patients every day,” Terhaar said.
From parents with a sick child, behavioral health, and an older population, Terhaar says patient profiles come from all over and that even web cams don’t lie.
Today the Task Force heard from a panel of Fixed Wireless providers. They spoke about advanced in wireless technologies and the range of customers they have. The also heard from Susan Brower, State Demographer. We learned that the state is growing but at a slower rate and that growth is uneven. There’s more growth in urban areas.
Here’s the whole lineup including some of Susan’s slides:
10:00 a.m. – 10:10 a.m. Welcome, Task Force Introductions, Attendee Introductions and Approval of Minutes from April 5, 2021 Meeting
Session ended May 17 with no action. But Senate, House and Gov agreed on $70 million over biennium for broadband – not sure if it’s State of Federal funding yet. Funding will not be included in Sen Westrom’s Ag bill. They passed a policy-only bill with nothing related to broadband. It will likely become an infrastructure bill. Spreadsheets expected May 28; June 4 bill language is due; Special session is June 14 – with all new bill numbers.
10:15 a.m. – 11:10 a.m. Fixed Wireless Panel – Luke Johnson, Broadband Operations Manager, Meeker Cooperative Light & Power – VIBRANT Broadband Terry Nelson GM/VP, Woodstock Communications Mary Lodin, CEO/Partner and Jay Mankie, CTO/Partner, Genesis Wireless, Tim Johnson, Operations Manager, MVTV Wireless
Questions:
Can fixed wireless provide symmetrical services?
Only at lower speeds 10/10, 20/20 even 50/50 but not up to 100/100
How much is fixed wireless?
$39.95/month to 99.95 – we really need to average $50 per customers to remain sustainable.
We have 300-400 people who only use email; we have others that seem to stream constantly.
Folks can get 25 Mbps for $35/month.
Woodstock has a service that starts at $24.95/month. It’s a legacy from a Moose Lake municipal service and it’s mostly seniors who only email. No streaming.
If we want symmetrical speeds we have to go with fiber.
If someone wants a light package we can serve northern areas but the trees make it difficult. They try to map accordingly.
Costs can be high for end users – and sometimes we need to go to them to help pay for those costs and people do it – especially with fiber? Do people really need FTTH or do the hybrid solutions work.
It might be helpful to have a “bank” of funds to help offset some of these installation costs for folks who need it.
How has COVID impacted demand?
Many people now know they can work from home and many of them will continue working from home. That might not be the case with students.
Evening hours are the busiest for most providers. They built the network for those nighttime peaks; so we were ready for the shift to day time use. For most, they got new customers and upgraded existing customers.
Learned that we need to deploy quicker in rural areas. They were installing 7 days a week. They’re still seeing growth and people are not getting the lower packages; the buy at higher levels.
Sometimes you can get around obstacles.
How can we help you?
What about a program that helps upgrade existing customers? Rather than introduce a faster competitor, but look at who is the incumbents and how can the State help make them faster. Especially in areas where you might have 4 customers per square mile. The customer is there – we just need to upgrade.
Need better education. Wireless had gotten a bad rap – and there are good ways and bad ways to build it. The new technology is a very good solution.
How many residents actually need a Gig – we have to quick chasing these numbers. Getting to 100/100 with today’s technology is difficult but providers feel they can get there in the future. Not sure about higher speeds.
Cost to build a tower:
In Meeker $120,000
300 ft tower $100-175,000
And there’s a 50 percent increase in steel costs
How do you deal with businesses in range but out of line of sight?
We work with them – taking down trees or extending existing towers.
11:10 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. Break
11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Minnesota State Demographer Susan Brower
Minnesota had growth but it has slowed, as has the US growth. Our population is getting older. (More people living longer than babies born.) Most growth is in 7-metro counties and up the Highway 94 core. IN rural areas – there’s not as much growth but these areas are not quickly emptying out. It’s more of a stability that most people think.
In rural areas – we are seeing population declines, albeit modest decline. It has picked up in some areas in the last decade. Entirely urban areas are growing.
12:15 p.m. – 12:30 p.m. Public Comment, Other Business, June Meeting Plans, Wrap-up
What are we going to do with RDOF? Can we get the legislature to look at the problem of RDOF closing the door on so many communities that night have qualified for Border to Border grants and are now left in the lurch.
Last week, the Office of Broadband Development held an orientation to their new mapping features. You can get the recording and other materials online.
We invite you to nominate the Unsung Hero in your life, someone who hasn’t gotten the recognition they deserve for making a lasting difference in their community.
Four Minnesotans — two from the Twin Cities metro and two from Greater Minnesota — will each receive $10,000 in recognition of the significant impact they have had on the state of Minnesota and its communities. Nominations are now open through Friday, June 25, 2021 at 5pm CST.
Local legislators across the board are pleased to see state leaders including broadband funding in a recently announced budget framework, even if they differ on how much the state should have spent.
An agreement between the DFL majority in the House, GOP majority in the Senate, and Gov. Tim Walz provides $70 million over the next two years for broadband projects. It’s unclear whether that money will come from state or federal sources, but lawmakers agree it’s a necessary part of this year’s budget talks.
“It’s good news for Greater Minnesota because without broadband we just can’t compete,” said Rep. Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska.
Several local legislators have worked on broadband issues in recent years as a means to improve the region’s quality of life. Rep. Susan Akland, R-St. Peter, and Sen. Rich Draheim, R-Madison Lake, submitted broadband funding bills this spring after the COVID-19 pandemic compounded the need for internet service throughout the state.
“I don’t think we can wait for our kids that don’t have access to their homework, don’t have access to their schooling,” Draheim said.
He and Akland both noted the $70 million agreement is more than Walz initially requested for broadband projects earlier this year, but it still falls short of what some lawmakers had desired.
More views from local legislators…
Rep. Luke Frederick, DFL-Mankato, said he was glad to see state leaders emphasize broadband funding in this week’s budget framework, but he would have preferred the Legislature allocate $120 million toward broadband to improve internet access in rural areas.
“All of these different aspects, whether we talk about telehealth, whether we talk about distance learning, whether we even talk about the future of transportation, data infrastructure needs to be in place,” Frederick said.
Draheim pointed out the state’s Office of Broadband Development will likely be swamped with requests as is, while some of the billions of dollars Minnesota is expecting in federal COVID-10 aid will likely go to broadband projects.
More than 12 miles of fiber to improve broadband availability in the city of Pequot Lakes are planned for this year, the Echo Journal reported May 12.
The broadband internet to be installed by TDS Telecom would become available to another 1,080 service addresses in the city. TDS expects to install about 60 miles of fiber between Cass and Crow Wing counties by the end of the summer, including 100-megabyte service in Breezy Point, Jenkins, Pine River, Backus and Hackensack.
Just a reminder that we’re meeting Wednesday (tomorrow) to chat about Digital Use and Inclusion. In the spirit of summer starting – it’s an open topic day. So please bring your questions, your answers, your updates. We’re happy for it all.
