Officials say local service not subpar

A recent study stating that broadband Internet service in many counties in Pennsylvania, including rural counties like Butler, is below the standard set by the Federal Communications Commission is not supported locally.

The study, commissioned by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania and conducted by Penn State's telecommunications department, was published in June.

It states the median upload and download speeds across most of the state do not meet FCC standards.

FCC standard for download speed is 25 megabits per second (Mbps).

The study suggests that an FCC report stating that 800,000 people in Pennsylvania do not have access to broadband connectivity underestimates the severity of what it calls the “digital divide.”

The research team collected more than 11 million broadband speed tests from across the state last year and found median speeds are under the FCC standard.

Research concluded that there were no counties in the state where 50 percent of the population had connectivity equal to the FCC standard.

The discrepancy between the FCC report and the research is at least partially attributable to the self reporting from Internet service providers (ISPs) that the FCC relies on, said Barry Denk, director of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.

“ISPs are required to submit data to the FCC on Form 477 declaring the availability of broadband in their service areas,” Denk said. “The service providers say their service is available. They report by census block. If the ISP has service available to 10 residents (in a census block), they can say it has service available to them. There's a lot of latitude in the declaration.”

This is an excerpt — pick up Sunday's Butler Eagle or subscribe online to find out how lack of rural internet affects local students.