As 2009 closes out, it’s exciting to learn that South Carolina may be getting better data services thanks to new broadband maps coming soon.
Broadband mapping – much like the US Census every 4 years – is driven to a large extent by the population of a geographic area.
For those of us with internet, phone, and/or television service – essentially everybody in today’s society – it’s comforting to learn that our services may be updated to more modern standards down the road – especially in our state’s rural areas. New technologies always bring new opportunities, and we’re anxious to hear what competitive synergies will arise here at home.
Connect South Carolina is a partnership between the state of South Carolina and Connected Nation to increase broadband Internet access throughout rural South Carolina. The grant is comprised of $1.2 million for broadband data collection and mapping activities over a two-year period and almost $500,000 for broadband planning activities over a five-year period in South Carolina, bringing the total grant award to approx. $1.7M. The award provided through NTIA’s State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program is a matching grant and part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. – Connected Nation
With that in mind, it’s disheartening to learn that those of us using Charter’s services – internet, phone, and/or television – for our means of conducting business or play in our daily lives have been missing out on a fundamental feature that many others probably take for granted – fast, reliable service for all our data streams.
Consumer Reports February 2010
One look at this photo shows where Charter stands in the rankings – last or near last in every category; Charter says they are “a leader in High-Speed Internet service” – this independent analysis shows a different story.
We are thankful to The State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program for this anticipated broadband activity; the matching grant program implements the joint purposes of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Broadband Data Improvement Act.
Finally, many of you may have heard a few months back that Charter filed for bankruptcy; they have since emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and we look forward to what progressive steps they plan to make for South Carolina and our large number of rural residents.
Meanwhile, be sure to visit ConnectSC.org’s broadband mapping and research page to let them know you don’t have broadband access at your house (if that’s the case). You can also test your broadband speed like I did below.
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