West Virginia Internet Speed Test Portal
The council launched the West Virginia Internet Speed Test Portal to assist in the accurate identification of the presence and level of broadband internet service delivered to users as well as the associated infrastructure necessary to support broadband development.
The speed test includes an online survey to capture information about internet and broadband service, including internet speed, subscription level and customer satisfaction. The test also includes a GPS location for more detailed and accurate data.
Individual users can take the speed test at wvbroadband. org. To date, more than 27,000 speed tests have been collected, and speed tests have been conducted in each of West Virginia’ s 55 counties.
“ Once we were able to get access to the state test data so we could see what people were experiencing in the state and get our contract list from a company called Fiber Locator so we could identify where fiber is in the state, we were able to get a baseline and start moving forward in terms of where the most unserved areas are and the areas that are doing well,” says Hinton.“ We always want to identify the problems, but we also want to see that there are places that do have good connectivity in West Virginia. It’ s not all bad.”
The FCC presents data from Form 477 in U. S. Census blocks, equivalent to a neighborhood block in an urban area. As a result, if there is one customer served in a census block, the entire block will be reported as having broadband. While the FCC’ s Form 477 data is the official record of
broadband availability and speeds, the speed test portal can provide alternate data for comparison and validation if discrepancies occur.
“ The test portal enables the council to identify communities with connectivity that do not support the needs of residents and businesses,” says Hinton.“ The council can then assist those communities in moving forward to pursue the benefits of broadband connectivity.”
Broadband Infrastructure Loan Insurance Program
The council partnered with the West Virginia Economic Development Authority( WVEDA) to create the Broadband Infrastructure Loan Insurance Program in 2017. The goal of the program is to expand and extend broadband service throughout the state by eliminating some of the financial barriers and risks for internet service providers.
“ One of the biggest hurdles to a small- or medium-sized internet service provider is access to capital,” says Hinton.“ Traditionally, banks have had trouble figuring out how to fund and provide loan money to a fiber project or a wireless project. The reason behind that is the high level of risk associated with loans. The first thing banks do is look at defaults and what they would do with the assets. They really are in a quandary with what they would do with, for example, 40 miles of fiber along the road.”
The WVEDA is authorized to consider financial assistance through loan insurance for capital costs relating to eligible broadband service projects and building telecommunications network segments.
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