Rural Broadband Survey Summary
In the summer of 2019 Polk County IT sent out over 5000 surveys to rural property owners outside the city limits of Dallas, West Salem, Monmouth, and Independence. Property owners were asked to complete the survey and mail it in or go to the county website and complete the on-line survey. The number of survey respondents was overwhelming. Approximately 32% of the property owners responded. The following summarizes the survey results. For more details please download the “Rural Broadband Survey Summary”.
The information provided on this site and the accompanying documentation is collated from a variety of voluntary survey response, Polk County does not provide this information as an endorsement of any specific provider or methodology and is provided for informational purposes only.
Internet service is available in Rural Polk County and citizens are trying to "get connected"
- There are 17 internet service providers in Polk County.
- Survey respondents are trying to get connected and use a wide variety of providers to do so.
Internet speeds available are far below national standards and the state average.
- Over 25% of respondents have services below “standard” internet access (speeds less than 5Mbps).
- Almost 90% have service that is well below the federal definition of broadband service.
- According to reports from broadbandnow.com (1), the average speed of internet in Oregon is 42.8 Mbps and 90% of Oregonians have access to 100 Mbps or faster service.
Respondents use the internet for much more than entertainment.
- 80% of the respondents use the internet for personal business.
- 40% of the respondents use the internet for education.
- A significant number of respondents use the internet for commercial or home based business.
Services are not cheap given the speeds available.
- Over 20% of the respondents pay over $100/mo for services.
- Over 75% of the respondents pay over $50/mo for services.
- The average cost for 60+ Mbps service with unlimited access in the US is $60/mo (2).
The level of service is not great but similar to national averages.
- Almost 40% of the respondents rate their services as being bad.
- Only 30% rate their service as better then OK.
- According to a recent national study (ASCI Telecommunications Report) (3) the average ISP received a customer satisfaction rating of 62 out of 100.
Almost everyone wants better service.
- Almost 87% want better services.
- For those using the internet for more than just entertainment, such as business, 90% want better service.
References
1) Speeds - https://broadbandnow.com/Oregon
2) Cost of Service
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https://www.allconnect.com/blog/cost-of-high-speed-internet https://www.atlasandboots.com/remote-jobs/countries-with-the-cheapest-internet-world
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http://cost-finder.com/what-is-the-average-cost-of-internet-around-the-world
3) Customer Satisfaction - ACSI Telecommunications Report 2018-2019 - May 21, 2019
