CLEARFIELD – Clearfield County Commissioner Dave Glass is urging residents without wired broadband internet to verify their service status on the new Federal Communications Commission National Broadband map.
He said the federal and state governments will utilize the map to determine areas that will be awarded funding to expand broadband access.
However, while the new map is an improvement, it still contains errors, he said, adding that “if broadband is the house, then its foundation is poorly built.”
According to Glass, the map identifies some area residents – including county employees – as having wired broadband internet service available when in reality they do not.
He strongly urged residents who run into this same problem to challenge their service status through the FCC Web site, https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/home.
To help residents better navigate the site, Glass created PDF and YouTube video tutorials to walk them through the process step by step.
He said anyone with any questions or concerns may contact him directly via e-mail at dglass@clearfieldco.org. The deadline to submit broadband challenges to the FCC is Jan. 13, 2023.
“We know it’s a bad time with the holidays,” Glass said, “but this map is our first step towards broadband” and the FCC may overlook a small number of errors.
If a significant number of errors are discovered and challenges are subsequently received, then he said it’s possible the FCC may update the existing map.
“So, it’s important for our residents to verify their service status and, if necessary, take five minutes to file a challenge and encourage their friends, their neighbors to do the same.”
Glass noted that challenges are strictly for lack of service and anyone with a provider like Comcast, Breezeline, etc., available but who chooses not to pay for service should not submit a challenge.