The Superior Express -

The accuracy of the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map is being disputed by a number of Nebraska broadband providers and government officials.

Nuckolls County Commissioner-elect Jerry Grove has called on this newspaper and asked the paper’s help in alerting Nuckolls county residents of the need to review the map and report any errors. The Nebraska Public Service Commission plans to file a challenge regarding providers in Nebraska who do not meet the 25/3 minimum speeds. In order to validate the bulk challenge, the commissioners are encouraging citizens to go to the following link to perform an individual challenge at their residence, commercial or nonresidential building that should receive internet connectivity. The deadline to challenge is Friday Jan. 13.

To participate go to the new FCC National Broadband map at https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/home.

Grove said the new broadband map is horrible and flawed beyond belief, According to the map, 98 percent of Nebraska is adequately served. Grove said that certainly is not true.

South Central Public Power and Glenwood Telecommunications have proposed a partnership plan to bring high speed internet to South Central’s customers. However other providers said the customers were adequately served and the new service was not needed. Thus far the proposal has failed to receive the requested grant to help pay for the installation costs.

Nebraska Public Service Commissioners Dan Watermeier, Tim Schram, Rod Johnson and Mary Ridder recently wrote in a letter, “Our work in holding telecoms accountable and pushing broadband further out into more rural locations is ongoing. With substantial federal grants for broadband infrastructure on the horizon, making accurate maps is imperative. The federal maps which depict where locations have broadband service (or do not) and to what speed will be the funding mechanism for millions of dollars beginning in 2023. Funding for broadband in Nebraska depends on the accuracy of these maps.”

“Many attempts have been made over past years to correct inaccurate data turned in by some companies. Now there is an opportunity to challenge the Federal Communications Commission broadband map if a location is not receiving service or not at advertised speeds.”

To participate, go to the new FCC National Broadband map at https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/home Enter an email address in the location box.

Zoom down to where the buildings are located and the hexagons disappear, to see what broadband service is supposed to be there.

If you see the location of buildings or facilities, click on the dot:

A. If green - determine if the providers that show up could serve that location.

B. If gray, and you believe the location should be able to receive broadband, or there is no dot, click on “location challenge” and follow the instructions.

If you have questions, please email [email protected].

According to the Nebraska Association of County Officials (NACO), the more individuals who participate, the more likely the challenge will be successful.

As a reminder, the deadline to challenge is Friday, Jan. 13. Don’t delay, there isn’t time to waste.

If enough individual challenges are submitted, it can result in a significant increase (up to $300 million) in BEAD federal funds being allocated to the state of Nebraska to assist our unserved and underserved rural areas in receiving broadband connectivity acre to acre. 

More information is available at https://youtu.be/XKmM9ES7nUQ,to assist Nebraska citizens in performing this critical challenge for Nebraska.   

In addition, Oliver Borchers-Williams, SENDD Broadband Team Coordinator, has provided an Excel spreadsheet by county of cellular services that are over reporting reliable broadband technology and the following message:

Between now and Jan. 13, focus first on verifying availability of licensed fixed wireless, copper (DSL), cable, and fiber reported at a given location. Satellite (both GSO and NGSO) and unlicensed fixed wireless are not considered “reliable broadband technologies,” and entries delivered by these technologies will not be counted in the final tally of unserved and served locations to determine Nebraska’s BEAD allocation.

An underserved location currently classified as meeting the standard may be reclassified as unserved if a challenge is successful. The first three entries may meet the 25/3 speed threshold, but are not delivered by a “reliable broadband technology” and will accordingly not factor into BEAD allocations. T-Mobile is reporting 0.2/0.2 Mbps, far below the 25/3 threshold. The last entry from US Cellular suggests service via licensed wireless at exactly 25/3 – which is unlikely to be available. More than 65,000 locations across the state and nearly 17,000 in SENDD member counties are similarly misclassified because of cellular carriers reporting in-home broadband service of 25/3 Mbps. If your home or business is not classified correctly, file an availability challenge by clicking the link in the upper right corner of the table.

Kansas, which already has better broadband coverage than Nebraska, recently received $5.7 million to expand broadband acces, adoption and affordability from the U.S. Department of Commerce National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

With the grant, Gov.Laura Kelly said, “Communities across Kansas have enormous potential for a new chapter of innovation and success.

The funds are part of the designated $65 billion in the Investment and Jobs Act passed in 2021.