{"id":109934,"date":"2019-11-27T13:40:41","date_gmt":"2019-11-27T18:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=109934"},"modified":"2019-11-27T13:40:41","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T18:40:41","slug":"madison-county-announces-broadband-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=109934","title":{"rendered":"Madison County announces broadband campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"226\" height=\"226\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/County-Seal.jpg?resize=226%2C226&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-48019\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/County-Seal.jpg?w=226&amp;ssl=1 226w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/County-Seal.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 226px) 100vw, 226px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The quality of the lives of the citizens and businesses\nwithin Madison County are always an important concern for the Madison County\nBoard of Supervisors.&nbsp; The Board of Supervisors announced in October the\nlaunch of a joint Broadband Availability and Adoption Campaign to determine\nneeds and opportunities for broadband Internet growth in the region. The\ncampaign, which consists of a short online survey and speed test, will target\nboth residential and commercial addresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have long known that our county lags behind the more\nurban counties in the state when it comes to access to affordable, reliable\nbroadband,\u201d said Madison County Chairman John M. Becker. \u201cMany people at their\nhomes and businesses have poor to no access, and those that do have access\nreport that broadband speeds are a real problem. This online survey will help\nus map and determine access levels and speeds throughout Madison County.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWith more day-to-day functions moving online, whether it\u2019s\nfor business, education or personal use, we can\u2019t afford to let our County fall\nbehind,\u201d said Eve Ann Shwartz, Hamilton town supervisor and chairwoman of the\nPublic Utility Service Committee. \u201cHigh-speed broadband has become nearly as\nessential as water and electricity for a good quality of life.&nbsp; We\u2019re\nusing the BAAT Campaign to collect information on services residents have, need\nand where service is lacking. We can then use this data to come up with a plan\nto move forward and improve our broadband county-wide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The broadband survey is tailored to ask questions, based on\nresponse, pertinent to homes and businesses both with and without access.\nRespondents will need to enter an address and indicate whether it is for a home\nor business and will proceed to a survey designed to collect information on\ndemand for services unique to their location.&nbsp;&nbsp; Residents who also\nhave an at-home business should take the business survey as well as the home\nsurvey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe know a lot of people are very unhappy with their service\nand the lack of options in the county,\u201d Becker said. \u201cWith the results from\nthis survey, the Madison County Board of Supervisors will have the tools they\nneed to combat the broadband shortage in our community.&nbsp; The data will be\nused to draw service providers into the area and apply for grants to assist in\nexpanding service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Residents without Internet access at home can and are\nencouraged to take the survey.&nbsp; They can go to their local library, enter\nin their home address, skip the speed test completely and answer the questions.\nThe survey is also accessible via any mobile device.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paper copies of the survey will be available at local\nlibraries and town offices.&nbsp; The county is also working with local school districts\nto send surveys home with students for families to complete and return.&nbsp;\nThe survey can be accessed at&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.madisonbroadband.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">madisonbroadband.com<\/a>, and the county has provided hard\ncopies to local libraries, town offices and schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Madison County is hoping to reach as many residents as\npossible before the campaign ends Dec. 31. For more information, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.madisoncounty.ny.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">madisoncounty.ny.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The quality of the lives of the citizens and businesses within Madison County are always an important concern for the Madison County Board of Supervisors.&nbsp; The Board of Supervisors announced in October the launch of a joint Broadband Availability and Adoption Campaign to determine needs and opportunities for broadband Internet growth in the region. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-sB8","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/County-Seal.jpg?fit=226%2C226&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=109934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=109934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=109934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=109934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}