GEODC wants Oregon’s broadband map to be right

By Terry Murry on Wednesday, December 21st, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

The following is a news release from the Greater Eastern Oregon Development Commission:

The Oregon Broadband Office is seeking the public’s help in verifying or correcting the broadband information listed for their residence on the FCC’s National Broadband Map. An accurate broadband map will help identify the communities most in need of funding for high-speed internet projects and will be used by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to determine how much federal funding each state receives for broadband support. The deadline to update the map and influence the broadband support Oregon receives is January 13, 2023.

The FCC’s National Broadband Map shows addresses across the U.S. and the quality of internet access for each, derived from information provided by internet service providers. Knowing where broadband is available (and more importantly, where it is not) is critical to secure funding and improve broadband access for Oregon’s underserved communities. We need everyone’s help to make sure the FCC has the most accurate picture of what we need in Oregon.

Please follow the below steps to check your address and challenge the data if it shows you have better internet access than you actually do.

Go to FCC.gov.
Search for your address and review the results.
If the information about your home or small business is inaccurate, you can file a “challenge” (request for correction) with the FCC to have the map corrected. An accurate map is extremely important to identify those communities most in need of funding for high-speed broadband.

How to file different types of challenges:

Availability Challenges: If the information about the internet services available at your home or other location is incorrect, you can dispute it by clicking on the Availability Challenge link on the right side of the map and submitting the form. Click here to learn how to submit an Availability Challenge.
Mobile Challenges: If the map of mobile coverage submitted by your provider seems incorrect, you can dispute that by taking speed tests on your mobile phone with the FCC Speed Test App, available for both Android and iOS. Make sure to select the Challenge Speed Test option and to take the test while either outdoors or in a vehicle. Click here to learn how to submit a Mobile Challenge.
Location Challenges: If the information about the location point of your home or other location seems to be incorrect, you can submit a Location Challenge to correct the information on the location. The link to do this is to the right of the address on the map. To add a location, click on the place on the map where the location should be and then click the “Challenge Location” button. Click here to learn how to submit a Location Challenge.

For more information about this project and the Oregon Broadband Office, visit www.oregon.gov/biz.