Cellular & Broadband

Even in the wake of the pandemic, broadband and cellular availability continues to lag in the North Country. Scarce population centers and mountainous terrain have made infrastructure deployment expensive and difficult.

Cellular Infrastructure

In 2021, the LCLGRPB conducted a survey of businesses within the North Country to gauge how a lack of cellular service affects operations. 18% of business owners that responded stated they do not have reliable cell phone service. 36% said unreliable cell service is affecting their business function “moderately” or “very much.” Issues identified include inability for customers to make reservations or online purchases, inability for recreation related staff to communicate, and inability for self-employed contractors to reach customers while traveling through the Adirondacks.

In 2024, the LCLGRPB, in partnership with the NYS Connect ALL Office, was awarded a $250,000 grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission and USDA Rural Development to complete a North Country Cellular Deployment Plan. This plan will identify main travel corridors and developed areas lacking cell service and identify solutions.

As part of this effort, LCLGRPB will be performing drive tests throughout Clinton, Essex, Hamilton, Warren, and Washington Counties to gather real time data on cell availability and we need your help to identify the most crucial parts of the region!

Please visit our interactive map to identify areas where we should focus our data collection efforts:

Report No Cell Service Areas

BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE

To date, over 8,200 broadband serviceable locations in the five-county region are unserved and 820 are underserved.  

“Access to reliable quality high speed internet has become a pre-requisite for New York residents to take part in the modern economy and modern society as a whole. Whether for employment, education, health, or access to government services, our lives continue to move “on-line”, and it is critical that we continue the diligent work identifying where residents have access, the level of quality they have, and where we need to plug the gaps. With much work done at the State and Federal level to obtain the funding we need to expand this service, the work done by stakeholders like the Lake Champlain Lake George Regional Planning Board to ensure targeted and efficient execution of deployment with these funds is crucial. Many residents will soon be plugged-in due to their work, and we are fortunate to have them as partners in this goal.”  
-Assemblyman Matt Simpson (NY-114)

In 2022, the Regional Planning Board was given a $440,000 grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission to perform broadband expansion planning throughout the five-county region.

In January 2023, the Regional Planning Board submitted thousands of Broadband Serviceable Location (BSL) challenges to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This effort, which was achieved in partnership with county and town staff and elected officials, was to ensure the locations of unserved BSL’s on the federal broadband maps were accurate. In total, over 8,000 BSL challenges were submitted, the majority of which were upheld by the FCC. The work completed, coupled with the work of the other Regional Planning Commissions around the state, helped New York State secure millions of additional federal funding for broadband deployment.

In late 2023, the Regional Planning Board contracted with Tectonic Engineering Consultants to complete a Regional Broadband Deployment Plan. This plan will provide a roadmap for broadband build-out efforts to reach underserved and unserved households, businesses, and anchor institutions within the five-county region. The plan is slated for completion by the end of 2024.

In early 2024, the Regional Planning Board was provided with a $75,000 grant from Empire State Development to complete the NYS Broadband Serviceable Location Challenge and assess grant areas for the deployment of build-out funding. The Regional Planning Board submitted 606 provider challenges to ensure the New York State map of locations needing broadband access was correct; 543 challenges were accepted. In summer 2024, the Regional Planning Board provided comments to the State’s ConnectALL Office on the grant areas that were created for infrastructure deployment.

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