Federal funding to pay for internet service took off in the pandemic with programs that provided up to $50 a month to Americans who couldn’t otherwise afford a broadband connection. But even before COVID, many local internet providers had taken it upon themselves to lower the cost of broadband. There’s a push to address digital […]
internet access
Posted inNews, Outdoors, Technology
“We can’t broadcast through a mountain”: Digital dead zones getting in the way of Colorado’s first responders
BAYFIELD — There’s a digital dead zone in Fire Chief Bruce Evans’ 282-square-mile district in southwest Colorado, right up where the Upper Pine River Fire Protection District brushes against wildland and national forest. No cell coverage. No internet access. Even the radio goes quiet. For Sean Caffrey, at the Crested Butte fire department, signal cuts […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News, Technology
Colorado will get at least $100 million, possibly $1 billion, from infrastructure bill to end digital divide
Colorado’s efforts to end its rural digital divide could finally happen with the $1 trillion U.S. infrastructure bill, currently awaiting President Joe Biden’s signature. At least $100 million for broadband infrastructure will end up in Colorado, but it could be much more, said Tony Neal-Graves, chief information officer and executive director of the Colorado Office […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News, Technology
A rural Colorado school district is spending $3 million to connect kids’ homes to the internet. Will it be enough?
SAN LUIS — Tucked in a canyon deep in Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo mountains, Kimba Rael’s home doesn’t always get cell service or a stable connection to the internet. “It’s a ‘dead zone,’” said Rael, principal of Centennial School District R-1 in San Luis near Colorado’s southern border. One of the few live spots where […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News, Politics and Government, Technology
Colorado reaches 91% rural broadband coverage as efforts to improve internet for Ute Tribes move forward
One look at Colorado’s official broadband map and Bernadette Cuthair will tell you it’s wrong. As the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe’s director of planning & development, Cuthair has been working to help her community access faster internet service. But the current broadband map makes it seem like the southwestern town of Towaoc, the base for […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News
What’s Working: What we learned after a week of Colorado paying pandemic unemployment benefits
Colorado saw another intense week of job news with several examples of what’s working and what’s really not. As 230,000 out-of-work residents clamored to reopen their unemployment accounts on Monday, there was joy and pain, relief and frustration, clogged support lines and some who gave up and then got paid anyway. My conclusion: Nothing makes […]
Posted inColoradans, COVID, Education, News
Tens of thousands of Colorado kids still lack internet access. State stimulus dollars will only offer a short-term fix.
One of the kids in Patsy Burenheide’s third grade class earlier this fall met with her class via Zoom by sitting at the edge of her family’s garage in Milliken, where she could access her neighbor’s Wi-Fi. The connection inside her house was so weak that she and her siblings couldn’t study online at the […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Technology
Subsidized broadband program speeds up, but Colorado customers must upgrade to keep discount
A national low-income broadband program will get a speed boost on Tuesday as new federal requirements go into effect for the Lifeline service. But not all Lifeline customers will automatically see the upgrade to 25 megabits per second from 20 mbps for fixed broadband service, or an increase to 11.75 gigabytes of data for wireless […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, News, Technology
Spurred by the threat of wildfires, an Estes Park broadband project moved at the speed of light
As the Cameron Peak fire burned in the distance on the morning of Oct. 17, Josh Cramer sprung into action. He worried the fire might reach Estes Park and cause a literal meltdown that could wipe out the town’s internet, emergency lines and prevent reverse 9-1-1 calls. The town needed access to backup broadband. But […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Technology
Gigabit internet coming to more rural southwestern Colorado communities
Bit by bit, southwestern Colorado is cobbling together fiber-fast broadband service to get its residents up to speed, or at least to 2015 internet standards, when the Federal Communications Commission updated its benchmark to 25 megabits down and 3 Mbps up. The latest bit came this week as three Colorado counties learned that Utah-based Emery […]