It's music to the ears of rural Minnesotans watching a spinning wheel as they try to log on to their computers. The state announced a project that will bring broadband internet to much of our area,
"We are issuing almost $100,000,000 going out to 61 projects in 48 counties in every corner of our state to provide high speed internet broadband access that we estimate will help 33,000 homes or businesses get online who are not online today."
Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Steve Grove announcing the state's single-largest investment in expanding broadband internet service. He says that it's important for Minnesotans to have access to this type of connection.
"When you have that kind of service you're not stressed out about whether your connection is going to hang on, whether you can do a video conference, but you can consume digital media. That's the level of service you need to truly be effective in using broadband in your homes."
In a county like Redwood, which has a heavy agriculture business, DSL and fixed wireless internet systems get overloaded with data. Briana Mumme, Economic Development Coordinator for Redwood County, says that the limitation of speed isn't realistic for the county's residents and businesses.
"I have a wonderful friend who lived in rural Vesta. She just actually shared with me yesterday that two years ago her internet speed was at two megabits per second download over one. You can't even access a file on your device at that speed of that. And so she and her husband operated a business and are completely reliant on internet speeds. And so she is a recipient, just recently, of a fiber network and she was able to share with me, she's now at 200 over I think it was 50. And so it produces streamlined service, she's able to access the necessary information without interruption, without buffering. She is an example across many portions of our county. We have tons of individuals working from home who are needing to upload and download large files and without high-speed internet, it will produce limitations to being able to do that."
Grove says even with the new service, there are still thousands more homes that lack access, some are in hard-to-reach areas that are economically challenging for broadband providers. He says another round of funding that will allow the state to shore up rural broadband is coming soon.