Thanks to everyone who attended the webinar on webinars today. It was a conversation as much as a presentation and we all learned from each other. It got us thinking that maybe it makes sense to consider a regular opportunity to meet up online to talk about what we’re learning and need to learn about technology in the time of coronavirus. We could have loose topics decided in advance and maybe try out a few webinar platforms while we’re at it. But the intention is to keep the content sparse and questions plentiful.

We wanted to know if others would be interested – no commitment, just gaging interest. Let us know in the poll below and if you have a topic you want ot suggest – please do it in the comments below – or email me at atreacy@treacyinfo.com

Meetings in the Time of Coronavirus: Tips and Tricks of online meetings
As we move online, all of us are getting a crash course on online meetings. We thought we’d open up our sandbox to talk about how we’ve been hosting Zoom meetings and what we know about Facebook Live, Google Hangouts and Twitter parties. (Mostly Zoom.) We’re not experts, but we’re practitioners. We want to create a safe space for everyone give it a go – you can share your screen or take a chance to ask a question!

And the chat Continue reading →

Thanks to BEVCOMM for sending me their info to add to the growing list of what local providers are doing to ease the pain of Coronavirus threat

BLUE EARTH, MN — The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, continues to spread across the country, prompting thousands of American businesses and schools to move to remote work and online instruction.
Turning online for work and education may cause stress for local families living without high speed broadband in their homes.
To support customers working from home, as well as school staff and students taking part in eLearning programs, BEVCOMM is offering: (1) A $9.95 broadband connection for eligible low-income families working from home and for students taking part in eLearning programs. Qualifications include: must be a new customer, qualify for Free School Lunch, or the Low-Income Heating Assistance Program. Some restrictions apply.
(2) BEVCOMM will donate $3,000 to each public school district in its serving area to help support the purchase of Wi-Fi hotspots.
(3) BEVCOMM has joined the FCC in the Keep Americans Connected pledge, which will promote connectivity for residents impacted by disruptions during this coronavirus pandemic. Given the scope of this pandemic and its impact on American society, we pledge for the next 60 days to: • Not terminate service to any residential or small business broadband or phone customer because of their inability to pay their bills due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic;
• Waive any late fees that any residential or small business customers incur because of economic circumstances related to the coronavirus pandemic; and
Due to rising health concerns, the local BEVCOMM offices in Minnesota and Wisconsin will close their doors to the public effective at 8:00am on March 17, 2020. Please know BEVCOMM employees are still here to support you. They offer 24x7x365 Customer Service and Technical Support. Please reach out to them by calling your local BEVCOMM office or toll free at 800-473-1442.
Payments can be made over the phone with a credit or debit card, sent via postal mail, left in our local drop boxes, or paid online at http://www.bevcomm.net.
BEVCOMM installation and repair technicians spend much of their day in customer homes and businesses. For your safety and the safety of employees BEVCOMM will limit interactions to new broadband and phone installations and service outages. Thankfully, many technical troubles can be resolved remotely without having to send out a technician, however, there are times when they need to go on site to resolve the issue. Depending on the issue, BEVCOMM may ask to delay the resolution until exposure is less likely and requests that you communicate current health status prior to a scheduled appointment.

In addition, it is important to be aware of potential scams that may occur in relation to COVID19. Should you receive emails that look suspicious, please delete them and most importantly avoid clicking on links. It is a good practice to change passwords frequently.
Our nation is experiencing an unprecedented crisis, but no students should have to stop learning or employees stop working due to their internet connection. For more information and to upgrade your broadband subscription please contact us at 1-800-473-1442.
For more information regarding COVID-19, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019ncov/index.html

Today the MN Broadband Coalition hosted the fourth annual Broadband Day on the Hill (DOTH). You can see the video of the day (almost in its entirety) and the agenda below. On a high level, it was great to have folks from around Minnesota tell the legislators that broadband is important, the mapping is not accurate and we need to find new ways to reach the hardest to serve.

It was interesting to feel the vibe at the Capitol, which is all about the coronavirus. In the morning, Representative Ecklund started  by telling us what a game changer coronavirus has been and how right now there a need to prepare for emergencies. (Yesterday the University of Minnesota moved classes online – great for those who have broadband!) Rep Ecklund, Senator Draheim and Lt Governor Peggy Flanagan voiced support for broadband. Asked the room to keep fighting the good fight. But also conceded that right now coronavirus is getting the attention.

No where was that most evident than Governor Walz’s 2020 supplemental budget recommendations announced this morning (same time as the broadband activities)…

In his 2022 supplemental budget proposal the Governor is proposing general fund budget changes, including the general fund impact of the 2020 Local Jobs and Projects Plan released in January,  that total $346 million.  The Governor’s priority with this budget proposal is ensuring fiscal stability and addressing emergency response and preparedness needs across the state.

Broadband was not a part of the recommendations, although we were left with the impression that it was under serious consideration. As former Senator Becky Lourey pointed out, “Our timing is good. We can meet with our representatives and tell them how broadband can facilitate many tactics proposed to slow the spread of coronavirus – telehealth, telework, elearning and more.”

Broadband is a tool to help get Minnesotans through the risk of coronavirus, but only for those with access. It’s important that policymakers remember the need for ubiquitous coverage when they suggest strategies such as moving UMN classes online, moving public meetings online or suggest people work from home or they run the risk of creating (deepening) an equity gap!

• 9:15am: Legislative Update—Nathan Zacharias
• 9:30am: Bill authors Rep. Rob Ecklund; Sen. Rich Draheim
• 9:45am: DEED Commissioner Steve Grove
• 10:00am: Update from the Office of Broadband—Angie Dickison, Director
• 10:15am: Legislative Meeting Tips—Nathan Zacharias
• 10:30am: Legislative Meetings (On your own)
• 12:40pm: Meet and Greet with Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan

The agendas aren’t up yet but the times, dates and locations for the first two meetings of the Minnesota Broadband Task Force are set:

• January 24 from 10am to 2pm in the James J. Hill conference room at DEED
• February 18 from 10am to 2pm at Land O’Lakes in Arden Hills.

I mentioned this last week – but the application is now available and the deadline is January 24, 2020..

Blandin Foundation is currently seeking four rural Minnesota communities to participate in a 2020-2021 cohort of the Blandin Broadband Communities (BBC) program –  an intensive, two-year partnership between rural Minnesota communities (cities, counties, tribes, or other self-identified communities of interest or place) and the foundation. Selected communities work through a proven process to define their technology goals, measure current levels of broadband access and use, and seek technical assistance and resources to meet their goals.

Each BBC has the opportunity apply to Blandin Foundation for matching grants (around $75,000) for locally developed projects that advance community identified technology goals over the two-year project period.

For more information, download the BBC Application Instructions.

Bluff Country News reports…

MiBroadband has launched high-speed internet in the areas of Fountain, Peterson and Spring Valley, the culmination of a project that started about one year ago.

Mabel Cooperative Telephone Company, MiEnergy Cooperative and Spring Grove Communications revealed just over a year ago that they were in the early stages of making high-speed internet a reality for underserved rural areas via fixed wireless broadband.

Fixed wireless broadband service works in a similar fashion to cell phone communication with an antenna on a tower to carry the signal to the customer’s fixed location. A radio at the customer’s home, farm or business receives the signal from an antenna on a tower. Customers do need a line of sight to the antenna, which can send a signal approximately five to seven miles.

MiEnergy Cooperative has placed a monopole at each of its substations serving the Fountain, Peterson and Spring Valley areas. The monopoles are part of the electric co-op’s infrastructure to allow for a broadband connection that send data from the substation to MiEnergy’s office to allow for improved electric reliability.

Those monopoles with broadband connections are what allow MiBroadband to offer high-speed internet service to rural areas that are unserved or underserved.

The article talks a little bit about the technology…

“It is faster and more reliable than what cellular carriers can provide. When compared to DSL you don’t see internet speeds limited by distance from the provider’s main office,” Fishbaugher stated. “With cable-based service, a neighborhood shares a finite amount of capacity which can degrade service at peak times. Fixed wireless doesn’t have those limitations.”

And the business…

“While MiBroadband is not a cooperative, it is owned by cooperatives who have a history of providing excellent customer service.  Those same expectations on customer service carry over to this business to serve those who have had no options or who have had limited options for broadband,” explained Fishbaugher.

Last week I posted MN Broadband Profiles for each county. Today I want to dig into the those reports to see if we can find some trends in the top counties.

Here we’ll look at the top ranked MN Counties for speeds of 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up (100/20), the MN broadband speed goal for 2026:

There are factors that can hinder broadband progress in a county, such as household density and lack of provider competition. There are factors that can help broadband progress such as public funding and community support. But for each county the barrier is different, as is the support. For community leaders and policymakers, it can be valuable to recognize both the barriers and potential support because unlike the top county list which saw little change this year, the bottoms list includes four new entries (Yellow Medicine, Pine, Redwood and Kanabec).

Also I might caution counties that rank well for access to 25/3 (the 2022 speed goal) to pay attention to what’s going on in their community. Do they have potential barriers they might work on now?

Fast Facts about the Bottom Ten Counties for 100/20 broadband access

• 2 are in lowest 10 rank for household density ranking (Norman and Mahnomen)
• 9 have ten or fewer households per square mile (Otter Tail has 10.8)
• 9 have received MN broadband grants (Norman hasn’t)
• 6 have applied for MN broadband grants in 2019
• 6 have worked with the Blandin Foundation

Household Density

As noted in the report of the top counties, household density matters. You pay per mile for the wire (or fiber as the case is for future-looking networks) and you pay to dig the trench, to pull the wire; so the longer the distance, the more you pay. Then once the network is built, there aren’t as many customers to serve. And providing technical support can be more difficult when there are greater distances between customers. So, it’s difficult to recoup cost and make a profit.

All of the counties at the bottom have low population density. But the counties with the lowest household density are not on the list. Lower population density is a hindrance but not an absolute determiner in access to broadband.

Public Funding

Nine of the ten counties at the bottom have received MN broadband grants. It is difficult to measure the impact with ranking, because it’s a race where everyone is running and for the slowest runners that means beating their previous time, not the faster runners.

Bottom 10 counties that have improved their ranking from last year (some improved but not enough to rank higher than lower 10):

• Yellow Medicine (received grants in 2015 and 2016)
• Todd (received grants in 2014 and 2017)
• Aitkin (received grants in 2016 and 2017)
• Otter Tail (received numerous grants from 2014-2017)
• Mahnomen (received grant in 2017)

Bottom 10 counties that have not improved their rank from last year:

• Pine (received grant in 2017)
• Redwood (received grant in 2015, 2016 and 2017)
• Kanabec (received grant in 2016)
• Norman
• Becker (received grant in 2016)

All of the counties that got funding saw improvement. The counties that saw the great improvement (Todd, Aitkin and Otter Tail) were awarded grants. Noman County is the only one that are not received a grant and their access has not improved at all. (An increase of .07 is more a margin of error.)

Other reasons there may be no change in the counties that have received funding are improvements may not have been competed before data was collected, the grant may have been for multiple counties and/or little money and in some grants only required an immediate upgrade to 25/3.

With these results it’s difficult to ascertain the impact of funding but I think it’s fair to say that without it most of these would see no improvement.

Community Support

We gauged community support by tracking counties that have worked with Blandin Foundation. There are other ways to boost a county but this was an easy measure to track.

Blandin has provided guidance to these counties either in the form of broadband coaching and grants for broadband adoption projects or in supporting a feasibility study. The programming and support is valuable but at the end of each cohort or project I have heard people say that the most valuable outcome was stronger communities relationships. Six of the ten counties had worked with Blandin. Blandin worked with two of the three counties that saw the most improvement.

With these results it’s difficult to ascertain the impact of community support but I think it’s fair to say less would happen without it.

Competition

Another factor in broadband access is competition. Roberto Gallardo and Brain Whitacre wrote about the impact of competition and type of provider (A Look at Broadband Access, Providers and Technology) at the census tract level. They created a map (top right) that show areas by number of providers and type, which is either “Top 6” national provider or other. Top 6 includes AT&T, Comcast, Charter, Verizon, CenturyLink and Frontier.

One caveat is that the map defines broadband as 25/3 because that it is the federal definition. But for our purposes that doesn’t matter here; there are no providers that offer access to 25/3 and not 100/20.

Again, the Top 6 map uses census tracts not county boundaries, which makes it even more useful but it means we need to approximate the impact on the county.

The map on the left shows the bottom counties. The counties in east central MN (Aitkin, Pine and Kanabec) are in blue areas, which means there is only one provider serving those areas and that provider is a Top 6. Three of the counties in West Central MN (Norman, Mahnomen and Becker) are in green areas, which again means only one provider. Otter Tail, Todd, Yellow Medicine and Redwood are in areas that primarily seem to have a greater mix of providers.