You may soon say goodbye to buffering and hello to reliable internet, thanks to potentially millions of dollars being made available in grant funding. Door County Broadband Coordinator Jessica Hatch shared the news with the Door County Board last Tuesday as a part of her prepared remarks. To date, Door County has received more than $8.2 million in Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) broadband expansion grant funding has been awarded, covering over 11,000 locations in the area. Of Door County's 19 municipalities, 10 have grants or municipal self-funding in place, while six have internet service providers (ISP) picked out, but they are trying to line up the financing. The City of Sturgeon Bay is considered served and eligible for additional funding, while the villages of Ephraim and Forestville have not made arrangements yet. What is at stake for the six municipalities with an ISP but no funding is potentially $30 million in BEAD (Broadband Equity Access and Deployment) grants for the county's 7,379 eligible locations. Hatch says time will be of the essence once the maps are finalized.

The first round of BEAD sub granting opens to invited entities and begins on November 1st. Subsequent rounds would open on February 1st, 2025, and April 15th, 2025. You can watch Hatch's full presentation below.