FCC released a new map that demonstrates the broadband issues in Washtenaw County. You’ll notice that in the demographics picture they mention that in rural Washtenaw County 29.98% of the population have no fixed broadband.  For more information click here

The Michigan Broadband Cooperative is pleased to share info about bi-partisan House Bill 4162 to improve broadband access in unserved parts of Michigan. This bill would provide an important tool for townships who are partially served by broadband, but have areas that are too rural to get coverage from traditional service providers. Use of special assessment districts would allow infrastructure builds in these areas to be funded by the residents who would specifically benefit from the network, which could then be operated through public-private partnerships. To read more click here

If you’re one of the residents in Washtenaw and Jackson Counties with poor broadband, you may be visiting this website and thinking “why haven’t I heard of this group sooner??” There is a good reason for that – although a few of us have been talking for several months now, we’ve only just settled on a name and put up a website. So, you’re not late to the party, you’re just in time to help us get rolling! Michigan Broadband Cooperative is made up entirely of community members from Washtenaw and Jackson Counties, with one simple goal – broadband for all of us. We’ve talked to the cable and DSL companies, and they aren’t going to run cables to our communities – too expensive. We’ve talked to the cellular carries, and their services either lack coverage, have data caps, or both. We’ve talked to our friends at the local wireless ISPs, and they are currently our best bet – but their wireless solutions are only a bandaid on the problem. We need an organized community effort to bring robust broadband service to our unserved and underserved areas – and Michigan Broadband Cooperative is that effort. We hope you will join us as we move forward with tangible efforts to bring broadband to our community, with the long term goal of gigabit fiber to the home.