Internet Access Here Sign (Photo credit: Steve Rhode)
I am personally delighted to see my home state of Iowa increasing broadband penetration. Like any big data gathering project, the results are only as good as the data put into the database. I believe that some providers are a little over optimistic on their service availability especially just outside of metropolitan areas. I honestly think that there are more than 2.3% of the households that are not served by wired Internet. Just look at the number of households in Warren county outside of Des Moines with no service. The next step should be to improve the quality of data. In any case the numbers are very high which for a state that has very long loop lengths area-wise.
New research unveiled today by Connect Iowa shows that the broadband availability gap in the state is shrinking, with 93.5% of Iowa residents now having access to fixed broadband of 3 Mbps download or higher, compared to 92.5% last year.
Nonprofit Connect Iowa has been working since 2009 to ensure that Iowans have access to the economic, educational, and quality of life benefits derived from increased broadband access, adoption, and use.