Your struggles connecting to the internet in Door County are now documented with local officials wondering what to do next.

The Door County Economic Development Corporation released the findings of its six-month broadband study on Wednesday based on over 1,000 survey responses and its work with broadband infrastructure engineering consultants. The 215-page report showed the overall quality of broadband service currently available in the county does not meet the Federal Communications Commission definition of broadband. The FCC requires speeds of 25 Mbps upload and 3 Mbps download to fit the definition of “broadband.” This became more obvious during the pandemic according to the study where virtual learning and telecommuting taxed the connections, making tasks like video calls and working with cloud software hard to accomplish. Many of the networks also struggled to keep up during the tourist season when thousands were visiting the county on a daily basis.  The survey performed by the DCEDC showed 81 percent of respondents would support building a fiber network with another 18 percent just needing a little more information before they would. The report makes 10 different recommendations including seeking grants, reviewing local policies, lobbying for more state funding, and beginning conversations with internet service providers. DCEDC Executive Director Steve Jenkins says work is already underway.

Door County, eight towns, two school districts, the Washington Island Electric Cooperative, DCEDC, Door County Medical Center, Renards Cheese, and the Raibrook Foundation all sponsored the Broadband Infrastructure Engineering Assessment, which can be found here.