Public agencies across Warren County are asking every area resident to participate in an internet speed test that could one day help bring better internet service to underserved rural areas.
The …
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Public agencies across Warren County are asking every area resident to participate in an internet speed test that could one day help bring better internet service to underserved rural areas.
The ambitious data collection project is being conducted by internet provider Gateway Fiber and is being promoted by local government agencies and the not-for-profit Boonslick Regional Planning Commission. Participants are asked to connect from their home internet to a website that will automatically test their internet speed, then ask them to provide information about their name and location in order to create a map of where internet speeds are fast and slow.
The website to participate in the data collection is connect.gatewayfiber.com/speedtest.
Members of the Warren County Commission say this data could help form the foundation of an effort to seek grant funding to expand high-speed internet. The state and federal governments have expressed a desire to fund broadband internet expansion, explained Presiding Commissioner Joe Gildehaus, and having concrete data showing poor service areas would help the county apply for that funding.
Commissioners said Gateway Fiber is paying from its own pocket to run the data collection. The startup internet provider is currently in the process of building out fiber optic internet network in Warrenton, Truesdale and Wright City.
For residents outside those three towns, a government grant to subsidize network construction could help bring similar high speed internet service to less populous areas.
Internet speed data is already being used to create a digital map, shared with several local governments, that shows a clear divide between the service received in urban and rural areas. Residents in and around Warrenton and Wright City who have run the speed test have mostly shown download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second (Mbps) and as high as 340 Mbps.
Meanwhile, large chunks of rural Warren County, including around the towns of Innsbrook, Marthasville, Duztow, Treloar, Pendleton and Truxton, show many residents with less than 25 Mbps in download speed.
