This map, provided by the West Virginia Broadband
Enhancement Council, reflects broadband fixed
wireline speeds in West Virginia as of December
2016 and is based on FCC Form 477 data.
Hancock
The Speed of Service
Brooke
As Advertised by Providers
The FCC released its 2017 data on September 10,
2018. The 2017 map, which is now in development,
will be available at https://broadband.wv.gov.
Ohio
Marshall
§
¦
¨
77
/
Wood
Tyler
§
¦
¨
79
Pleasants
Harrison
Ritchie
77
Mineral
Taylor
Tucker
Putnam
§
¦
¨
Hardy
Braxton
Pendleton
Legend
Webster
Clay
Kanawha
Low Range Speeds
Pocahontas
Nicholas
(Less than 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream)
Lincoln
Wayne
Boone
Low/Middle Range Speeds
Fayette
(Minimum 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream)
Greenbrier
§
¦
¨
64
Logan
Raleigh
Mingo
Middle/High Range Speeds
(Minimum 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream)
Summers
Wyoming
McDowell
Jefferson
Grant
79
Cabell
Hampshire
Randolph
Roane
§
¦
¨
64
81
Upshur
Calhoun
Jackson
§
¦
¨
Berkeley
Lewis
Gilmer
§
¦
¨
Preston
Barbour
Wirt
Mason
68
Morgan
Marion
Doddridge
§
¦
¨
Monongalia
Wetzel
High Range Speeds
Monroe
(Minimum 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream)
Mercer
0
10
20
40
60
Miles
“Wireless technology has advanced quite significantly
over the last few years and has a trajectory to be able to
deliver speeds very competitive to fiber,” he says. “There
are a lot of areas in West Virginia where a hybrid model of
the backbone of fiber and the deployment of wireless make
a lot of sense. The cost per deployment drops considerably,
and the technology is moving to a point where it makes
sense to have wireless deployment in West Virginia. That
is where we as a council are bringing a lot of technologies.
There are a lot of different modalities we could use. It’s just
a matter of letting people know what this technology is,
what it’s capable of and how we can use it.”
For instance, non-line of sight technology has developed
rapidly over the past few years and has the ability to provide
speeds up to 50 megabits per second with ranges around
three miles. Additional advancements in fixed wireless long-
term evolution technology, the FCC making more spectrum
available, 5G deployment and continued development of TV
white space are all also expected to offer more options for
broadband expansion.
“Not all is lost,” says Hinton. “The toolbox of a great
mechanic has more than a single wrench, and wireless tech-
nology is becoming very dynamic. Non-line of sight technol-
ogy presents a great opportunity to feasibly connect rural
areas in West Virginia. The rapid changes in wireless for
fixed services and mobile services will create massive op-
portunities for connecting rural areas that can’t feasibly be
connected with wireline technology.”
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FALL 2018
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