By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
“Tucker County is being left behind because of this,” Tucker County resident Lowell Moore said during the Broadband Listening Session. “Businesses will not come into Tucker County because there isn’t sufficient broadband. People moves out of Tucker County and I’m going to say somewhere between 50 to 100 per year, we’re losing population by the year because we don’t have it and nobody’s moving back in because we don’t have it. So, Tucker County is really falling behind.”
Region VII Planning & Development Council, a sub-recipient of a WV Office of Broadband award, hosted a listening session at the Tucker County Courthouse in Parsons. The goal of the listening session was to gather the input of the public regarding the state’s upcoming broadband deployment goals. Carrie Wallace led the discussion with a series of questions submitted by the state and then fielded any concerns or comments remaining by those in attendance.
“I’m here this evening because we received a sub-grant award from the state development office who received funding from the federal government to deploy broadband internet across the entire state of West Virginia,” Wallace said. “So, they have requested that Regional Planning and Development Councils go out into our local communities and gather input so we can give them your feedback, explain the problems that you’re facing currently, the struggles that you have with accessing internet so they can try to fix and resolve those issues as they finalize the plan for deployment across the state.”
Concerns raised by at the session focused mainly on the lack of accessibility of internet in the county, particularly in the more remote rural areas. There was a consensus among attendees that the internet services currently offered in the county did not adequately fill the need leaving some to cancel service all together because of the spotty coverage. “It’s all dependent on where you’re at because you’re in service and out of service,” Moore said. “In Tucker County, I’ve always said this, two tin cans and string would be just as well.”
Tucker County Commissioner Timothy P. Knotts was also in attendance and voiced his frustration with the lack of reliable internet where he lives when asked about his coverage. “Once in a great while, once in a great while, not enough. I had my daughter live with me trying to run her business there, she can’t do it.”
Respondents also voiced concern over the high cost of reliable internet and voiced the desire to hold companies accountable when service is interrupted.
Wallace supplied some timelines in regards to the state’s plan for deployment. “You’re going to be able to review the State’s plan beginning in August of 2023,” Wallace said. “You’ll be able to provide comments if you don’t like the plan, they’ve developed based on feedback that we’ve given.” Wallace said an award on the project would likely come in January with a six year mark for completion of the plan.
Wallace also supplied resources for the residents of Tucker County to access. To attend a local listening session, go to https://internetforallwv.wv.gov/events/. The link to review the state’s plan beginning in August is https://internetforallwv.wv.gov/plans/ . Wallace also provided a link for residents to take a speed test. The results of the speed tests will be used to determine where internet access is currently available and the WV Office of Broadband can use the data to challenge FCC maps on behalf of Tucker County residents. To take the speed test, go to https://broadband.wv.gov/west-virginia-internet-speed-test/ .
