CNYRPDB Broadband Assessment

About

The Central New York region encompasses 3,700 square miles across a 5-county region surrounding the Syracuse NY, metro area. The Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board (CNYRPDB) provides planning and development services to the region.

Scope

The CNYRPDB awarded via competitive bid, a contract for broadband assessment services to ECC in 2019.  The scope of services for this contract included a regionwide inventory of broadband infrastructure, an interactive survey of residents and businesses, and an assessment of issues and potential solutions to resolve infrastructure as well as adoption issues facing the region. 

ECC provided an interactive GIS-based inventory of all infrastructure identified in the region.  In addition, CNYRPDB information on issues related to adoption and availability is based on direct input from 6,000+ respondents.

These questions pointed to issues related to the availability of broadband at their location, costs, speed, reliability as well as impacts on education, healthcare, and business. 

 This information was overlaid into the GIS database along with the inventory results to identify availability and adoption issues at the address level.  Regional reports were developed with subsections broken down to address specific results and needs of each county. 

ECC is currently working with CNYRPDB and each county to document and identify specific options needed to resolve broadband issues in each county.