Northwoods residents want more high-speed internet service, but most aren't likely to move to get it.
Executive Director for the Regional Econcomic Development Corporation Grow North is Angi Schreiber. Earlier this year, they surveyed the town of Hiles in Forest county, Three Lakes in Oneida county, Florence, and the towns of Presque Isle, Manitowish Waters and Boulder Junction in Vilas county. Schreiber says they had a very high return rate of 20 percent. She says a majority of residents will pay more to get better service...
"....we found the $30-50 dollars a month is affordable. Family businesses and teachers are extremely dependent on high-speed internet. If they don't have it at their home address, what their doing is going to their local library...."
Schreiber says cellphone service is spotty, with the majority saying service is slow to poor. They say cellphone service costs too much, too slow of speed, availability and reliability. She said a majority of people don't want to move because of lack of high-speed internet, but it wasn't universal...
"....the majority of people said they were not interested in moving due to lack of high-speed internet, but we did have areas that had higher 'yes'" rates, that they were interested in moving...."
Schreiber says they will take the survey results to use as evidence in future funding requests to get more Northwoods broadband.
Governor Walker recently stopped by Antigo and Land O' Lakes to present checks to companies installing more broadband.
