How fast is your internet?

Online college students in Culdesac head to the hills to do their homework.

It often is the only place they can connect with an internet signal strong enough to complete their assignments, said Carol Spencer, Culdesac’s city clerk.

The community lost the affordable internet service it had through the Nez Perce Tribe in June when a fire destroyed the only three-story building in town where a telecommunications tower was located, she said.

The tower hasn’t been replaced yet. There isn’t any place high enough for it to work and no internet provider has been able to duplicate the quality and geographic reach of the tribe’s product, Spencer said.

“We still have a lot of people in town who are struggling to get decent internet,” she said.

The challenges her town faces have prompted Spencer to encourage Culdesac’s almost 400 residents to take an internet speed test being offered at clearwater-eda.org.

So far, a little more than 500 households and businesses in Nez Perce, Clearwater, Idaho and Lewis counties have taken the test, said Krista Baker, community development specialist with the Clearwater Economic Development Association.

Only 19% meet the state minimum requirements of at least 100 megabytes per second and an upload speed of 20 megabytes per second, she said.

Latah County residents can take the test at clearwater-eda.org or grants.latahcountyid.gov through the Latah County Broadband coalition. No initial results are available from Latah County yet.

Baker is encouraging anyone who hasn’t completed it to do so on a personal computer, laptop or tablet by December.

The data collected through CEDA, the Latah County Broadband Coalition and similar organizations throughout the state will be important for a number of reasons, said Tucker Craig, a project associate for Imagine Idaho.

Craig’s not-for-profit group is making the tests available statewide through a contract with Geo Partners, a Minnesota firm that’s providing the software for the tests. It has agreements with regional organizations like CEDA to help coordinate the tests.

The major donors of Imagine Idaho include Regence Blue Shield of Idaho, the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation and the Idaho Community Foundation, Micki and Dan Chapin Fund.

The tests will help determine how much federal money Idaho will receive to upgrade its internet infrastructure, Craig said.

Billions of dollars are available through the Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment Program, which is part of the federal infrastructure package, he said.

Each state automatically will receive $100 million out of $42 billion, Craig said, but it’s possible that Idaho could get as much as $500 million or even $1 billion if it can prove its need.

“Every single test taken represents real dollars for communities,” he said.

The tests could also be used to hold internet service providers accountable if they indicate the speeds available are generally lower than what customers pay for, Craig said.

“We want communities to feel empowered to be able to go out and really know what their needs are and not feel like they’re being taken advantage of (by their service providers) just because they’re a small community,” Craig said.

The effort comes at a time when high-speed internet plays a critical role in everyday tasks such as completing projects for work or school or access to medical care with telehealth appointments, Craig and Baker said.

In many households, internet speeds are so slow that it’s impossible for a child to view a video for homework while a parent is on a Zoom meeting for work, they said.

Similarly, some offices have challenges if more than one employee needs to participate in a remote video conference at once.

“By taking part in this, you’re improving your community,” Craig said. “You’re improving your businesses, your children’s access to education, people’s ability to visit the doctor from the comfort of their home, not having to travel through a snowstorm.”

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.