Report: County Near Austin, Texas, Needs Internet Boost

(TNS) — The results of a survey on broadband internet for businesses, community organizations and residents conducted in Bastrop County, Texas, last year has revealed significant deficiencies in access and quality of service.

The findings, based on 3,624 Bastrop County households that responded to a voluntary survey between July 6 and Nov. 16, show 60.5% of respondents said their current internet service doesn’t meet their needs.

The survey was conducted by Connected Nation Texas, a nonprofit that works to support all residents to leverage broadband, and the report and results were made public in a March 3 virtual meeting between the Bastrop County Broadband Committee, Connected Nation officials, local government leaders and representatives from local broadband providers.

The survey responses highlighting high-speed internet issues in Bastrop County will be used to identify areas with deficient internet access and begin work to find solutions to bring more areas in the county online.

The project, born from a partnership between the county and Bastrop County Cares, came to fruition after the need for broadband internet service was heightened during the start COVID-19 pandemic last year.

Debbie Bresette , executive director of Bastrop County Cares, said the project was also funded in part by other groups and organizations such as St. David’s Foundation and the Hogg Foundation.

“I want us all to start thinking more about broadband as an essential utility,” Bastrop County Judge  Paul Pape  said during the March 3 meeting. “It used to be a luxury. It’s not novel and new anymore. It’s an essential asset for education, for health care, for business and enterprise.”

Across the board, the report and survey findings — which included feedback from a variety of internet users in the county, such as domestic users, agricultural users, educators and health care providers — revealed a pattern of broadband shortcomings that include high cost for service, slow internet speeds and unreliable internet service.

Connected Nation also used paper surveys to get input from county residents who lack internet access.

One of the standout statistics from the report found that the average internet download speed among households in Bastrop County is 23 megabits per second, compared to 37 Mbps in other communities recently surveyed by Connected Nation.

Tom Stephenson , a community technology advisor at Connected Nation who presented the report and survey findings earlier this month, said 95% of the communities that Connected Nation works with are rural communities, further highlighting just how much internet speed lags in Bastrop County.

The report also found that the average monthly cost of internet service for households in Bastrop County is about $81. By comparison, the average monthly cost for other communities recently surveyed by Connected Nation was about $69.

The report found that 23% of respondents in Bastrop County didn’t have an internet connection, with the two main causes being cost of internet service and lack of service availability.

This combination of high cost, slow speeds and unreliable internet service also extended to agricultural users.

Agricultural users in the county reported an average internet download speed of 9 Mbps, compared to 26 Mbps in other Connected Nation communities. Bastrop County farms paid an average of $94 per month for internet service, compared to $74 in other surveyed communities, according to the report.

Dissatisfaction with current internet service was also a recurring theme across groups that were surveyed.

In addition to 60.5% of county households that said their current internet service doesn’t meet their needs, 77% of agricultural users, 55% of county businesses and 44% of K-12 schools surveyed said the same.

Stephenson said about 35 K-12 schools in Bastrop County participated in the survey.

Furthermore, 91% of households said they would like to have improved or additional options for home internet service.

“What would our response be if maps showed that much of our county didn’t have any primary electric service, or any reliable community water service? We’d be shocked,” Pape said. “We have a huge problem in Bastrop County that either we solve, or basically (we’re) dead in the water.”

The report and survey findings are available on Bastrop County’s website — www.co.bastrop.tx.us — along with a link to an interactive map that features geographically plotted survey responses and offers a comprehensive look at the county’s internet infrastructure.

The interactive map includes the locations for assets and other internet infrastructure-related items and colored shading that shows internet access gaps in the county sorted by download and upload speeds.

This depiction of county internet access speed along with the charting of survey responses helps determine where potential overstatements of internet coverage are in Bastrop County.

Representatives from internet providers present during the March 3 meeting said smaller, local broadband companies often have monetary constraints that limit the infrastructure they can build. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted broadband providers both small and large as demand suddenly surged for constant internet service at home.

This was highlighted by a report finding that nearly 50% of Bastrop County residents said they telework from home every day.

At the same time, providers expressed optimism for the potential of bringing better quality internet service to parts of Bastrop County that are currently underserved, such as the Circle D-KC Estates area north of Bastrop.

During Monday’s Bastrop County Commissioners Court meeting,  Adena Lewis , the county’s director of tourism and economic development, said while the report highlights where internet service gaps are in the county, meetings directly with broadband providers scheduled later this month will represent tangible action to improve the county’s internet service.

Pape described these upcoming meetings as a “real deep, down into the weeds discussion” about how to fix the county's broadband problem.

“I think this information is stark in its message about how poor broadband particularly is in the rural parts of the county,” Pape said. “We will not drop this ball or let it lay on the field. We will move right forward.”

(c)2021 Austin American-Statesman, Texas. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.