Rank: 4
Code: Green
(See Blandin Foundation interactive map)
Clearwater County: from yellow to green and top 5 ranking!
Clearwater County seems to have benefited from a Garden Valley Telephone Company upgrade in 2018. At that time, they look poised to meet the 2026 speed goals but not much has happened since.
AT&T launched a new FirstNet cell site in Clearwater County in 2020. That cell site may have spurred some improvements, or it may have taken advantage of existing infrastructure. The mapping available precedes the cell site announcement so it’s difficult to tell. But it seems likely that AT&T would include a local infrastructure upgrade, which we may see reflected in next year’s map.
Broadband Access:
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| 100/20 (2026 goal) | 99.59 | 89.32 | 89.3 | 89.3 | 73.41 |
| 25/3 (2022 goal) | 99.76 | 99.74 | 99.74 | 99.58 | 99.58 |
| County | Households with computer | …with desktop or laptop | …with ONLY smartphone | …with a tablet et al |
| State of MN | 93.6% | 80.6% | 7.7% | 63.8% |
| Clearwater | 83.5 | 71.3 | 5.9 | 52 |
Past Grants/Funding:
- In 2018, Garden Valley Telephone Company received a $20 million loan from the USDA to deploy fiber in Polk, Clearwater, Pennington, Marshall and Red Lake counties.
- AT&T launched a new FirstNet cell site in Clearwater County.
Checklist:
- Find more articles on broadband in Clearwater County. (http://tinyurl.com/homdjrt)
- 100/20 Mbps ranking: 4 (up 18 places)
- Has worked with Blandin: no
- Has received a MN Broadband grant: yes
- Household density: 3.4
Details:
- Districts: CD 7
Senate: 02
House: 02A, 02B - 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)
Blandin on Broadband 