What's the Return on Investment on Local Broadband?

Hard data enables Louisville (KY) residents to know their broadband speeds and it's also proving beneficial to the city, which is looking to kick off new connectivity projects.

Last spring the city teamed with the IT developers at PowerUp Labs to produce the broadband speed-test site SpeedUpLouisville.com. Since then, nearly 4,000 citizens have logged on to test their Internet speeds, at the same time generating a first-ever view of what the providers are delivering and where the city infrastructure may be lacking. The idea for the test site percolated up at a code-a-thon hosted by the Civic Data Alliance. Results of ongoing speed tests show a number of stark contrasts. Seventeen percent of tests showed broadband speeds limping along at less than 5 Mbps, with geography playing a big role. In the slowest ZIP codes, testers clocked in at an average 7.32 Mbps versus more than 183 Mbps in the fastest neighborhoods.