The state is doing its part to connect more homes and businesses to broadband.
Read MoreConnecting Kansans to the Fastest Internet Yet
How important is internet access? To say that we cannot live without it may be a stretch, but not a big one. Given the proliferation of devices connected to the internet today, much of the technology that drives modern life now resides on a server somewhere.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly understands this better than most, which is why she’s made expanding broadband access a touchstone of her administration. On November 4, she announced that $15.7 million would be awarded to seven service providers that will bring high-speed broadband service to underserved communities in her state. The funding is the first of three rounds of awards from the Kansas Capital Projects Funds Broadband Grant Program. Because of it, more than 1,900 homes, businesses, schools, healthcare facilities and other public institutions will gain access to fast and reliable internet service over the next 24 months.
Solving the “last mile” of broadband connectivity is a challenge in remote and rural areas of every state, but Kelly has made it her mission to see that no community in Kansas is left behind. “By connecting nearly 2,000 Kansas homes, businesses and schools to high-speed internet, we’re continuing to deliver on our goal of giving every Kansan a connection to the world,” the governor said. “We’ve made substantial progress throughout my administration, and this funding knocks down another barrier to ensuring communities across the entire state have broadband access.”
“We are at 58,000 new households and businesses connected already in the Kelly Administration, and we will not stop until every Kansas resident has the connectivity needed to compete in the digital economy.”
— Kansas Lt. Gov. and Secretary of Commerce David Toland
Kansas was one of the first eight states to be awarded funding for this program under the American Rescue Plan Act and was allocated $83.5 million. “We are at 58,000 new households and businesses connected already in the Kelly Administration, and we will not stop until every Kansas resident has the connectivity needed to compete in the digital economy,” said Lt. Gov. and Secretary of Commerce David Toland.
Where Kansas Ranks
Thanks largely to these and other investments, Kansas today ranks No. 21 among all U.S. states with 76% of its people having access to 1GB broadband, according to BroadbandNow.com. Around 85% of all households in Kansas currently have access to the internet — and 85% of those have broadband connectivity.
In the overall ranking of internet coverage, speed and availability, BroadbandNow currently ranks Kansas 36th in the country; and Kansas ranks 39th among all states with 87% of people having access to 100Mbps broadband.
The Most Connected Places
The most connected counties in Kansas are Graham and Russell, with each having 100% access to 100 Mbps coverage. The counties of Ellis, Wyandotte, Osborne and Trego rank just behind the top two with more than 99.5% coverage in each.
The cities with the highest average download speeds in Kansas are Leawood (1,199 Mbps), Prairie Village (1,090 Mbps), Merriam (902 Mbps) and Derby (885 Mbps), according to HighSpeedInternet.com.
The service providers offering the highest internet connection speeds in Kansas, according to HighSpeedInternet, are AT&T, Cox, Xfinity, Earthlink, Synergy, Spectrum, Google Fiber, EIN and Kwikom. There are 68 options altogether for internet service in Kansas, with the largest providers being AT&T, Spectrum and Cox.
For more information and maps on broadband connectivity in specific locations in Kansas, contact the Kansas Office of Broadband Development in Topeka at jade.piros@ks.gov.
KANSAS: Where Foodies Find Paradise
‘Every New Business Begins With a Tourist’
ALL SYSTEMS GO
Features
In a Region Known for Energy Resources, Tech Is Tomorrow’s Fuel
These days, seeing “cryptocurrency” and “custody” in the same sentence does not bode well.
Read More
Features
New Mexico Is Riding A Breeze
Kansas Connections
Public, Private Investment Grew Kansas’ Biotech Sector in 2022
Features
The Shape Of Things To Come
Area Spotlights
Bald Tires No More: Incentive Fund Unlocks $9B in Capital Investment
Michigan: Bald Tires No More|: Incentive Fund Unlocks $9B in Capital Investment: New incentives deliver EV mega-projects for Michigan and its auto industry.
Read More
Features
‘PROOF IS IN THE OUTCOMES’
Features
New York Is Where A New Age Begins
Era-defining events, as if colliding, have coalesced to ignite a semiconductor revolution in the United States.
Read More
Features
Let the Chips Fall Here
If there’s any place better suited for the next semiconductor fab, Flint and Genesee County want to know about it.
Read More
Investment Profile
Louisiana Industries’ Clean Energy Partner
Industrial consumers of energy today require much more from their utilities than reliable and competitively priced power.
Read More
Stopping Hackers Is Job One in Kansas
Knowledge Gives Kansas Workers a Competitive Edge
Employers looking to hire the best and brightest don’t have to look far when they choose to set up shop in Kansas.
Read More
Investment Profile
Let’s Make a Mega-Deal
Where to Reshore Away from Both Shores
From 2010 to 2020, more than 1 million jobs were reshored back to the United States, according to Reshoring Initiative 2020 Data Report from the Reshoring Initiative.
Read More
Features
Hit the On Switch
Already known as a crossroads of Europe and Asia, Georgia finds itself at several promising junctures.
Read More
Departments
The Law of Unintended Consequences
Recent analysis from Brookings makes the case that the federal government is finally putting its money where its mouth is with respect to investing in domestic industrial development and local…
Read More
Blessing the Beasts
The Tug of The Art Land
Features
Biggest Names in STEM Fly North For Talent
Features
Clean-Tech Multinationals Continue to Flood the Valley with Billions in Capital Investment
ennessee’s advanced energy industry already employs nearly 394,000 Tennesseans in more than 20,300 businesses that contribute…
Read More