If you want to check new federal maps about broadband availability, you can now do that.
If you want to challenge the map, you can do that as well.
The new maps, using location-specific information, should be more targeted than the prior maps, which were outdated and “overly general,” according to US Senator Roger Marshall. The new maps serve another purpose — paving the way for federal funds to bolster broadband in areas where high-speed internet is limited or unavailable.
The maps demonstrate at least 80 percent of residents in most parts of the KVOE listening area have access to fixed broadband, but there are significant areas of Chase County, southwest Lyon County, western Greenwood County and near the John Redmond Reservoir in Coffey County that have no access. The entire KVOE listening area has access to mobile broadband but only at a level of 20-40 percent capacity, according to maps posted online by the Federal Communications Commission.
Lyon County had made a significant push to become the nation’s first county with complete broadband access, in large part through federal COVID-19 relief funding, but that has been on hold for months with the county effort under review at the state level at last word.
*Click here to check the new broadband maps.
*Click here to challenge the new broadband maps.
