Dear Editor,
I invite all residents and businesses in Belfast to participate in a City Broadband Survey, which can be accessed at www.cityofbelfast.org/broadband.
A few years ago, Belfast City Council inaugurated a Broadband Committee to study the needs and opportunities for internet broadband service in our community. We have met with most all of the current Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to determine their present levels of service and their plans for expansion of service, both geographically and in terms of speeds offered.
Last year, the City of Belfast received a Maine ConnectME grant to go the next step to determine individual and business needs for broadband. Axiom Technologies was contracted to design and implement surveys to better determine how best to encourage broadband development in the City. For example, the City is aware that there are many parts of Belfast that have little or no access to any broadband service at all, and this must be changed. Broadband access is a necessity for education and business, as well as entertainment and basic communications, and will be even more so in years to come. It is already harder to sell a house that does not have good broadband available than one that does. We as a community must do something about this, and you can help.
To help us help you, the Committee asks that every residence and every business in Belfast take just a few minutes to fill out the online survey applicable to them at www.cityofbelfast.org/broadband . If you do not currently have online access, we encourage you to pick up a hard copy of the survey, available at City Hall and the Belfast Free Library. If you both live in and have a business in Belfast, we ask that you fill out both surveys. The survey site will be active until Monday, June 4, so please take this opportunity to participate in the assessment and planning for broadband in Belfast today.
Thank you,
John Arrison
City Councilor and member of the Belfast Broadband Committee
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