Arizona received nearly $1 billion in federal funding through the BEAD (Broadband Equity Access and Deployment) grant to improve broadband infrastructure. Funds allocated are prioritized in order:

1. Unserved: Areas with no internet access or download speeds below 25 Mbps (megabits per second), and upload speeds below 3 Mbps (aka 25 Mbps up/3 Mbps down).

2. Underserved: Areas with speeds from 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up and speeds below 100 Mbps down/20 Mbps up.

Your residence may or may not qualify for BEAD funding (considered not if “served”). If it does not qualify according to the Arizona Commerce Authority Challenge Map, you may submit a challenge. The deadline for challenges is May 14, 2024 by the end of the day. For instructions on seeing if your address qualifies, and/or submit a challenge (either speed tests or reporting a service issue) navigate to Taking a Speed Test or Reporting a Service Issue or watch How to Perform a Broadband Challenge Process Speed Test - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgacj1WYnDY)

To qualify for a speed test challenge:

• You must be connected at the highest speed available by your ISP (Internet Service Provider/broadband provider).

• If the ISP advertises a new higher speed of 100M download, 20M upload or greater (both values have to be greater), they must have it available at your residence by June 30^th. If they do, they will have 10 days to install it from the date you request installation. Failure to either have it available by that date, and/or install it within 10 days from the date you first requested it, will be beyond the cut off dates/time frames required by the State of Arizona. You will need evidence of either requirement to use for your challenge submission. Speed tests or service issues must be reported through the AZ Commerce Authority Challenge Map.

Click this button to begin the testing process:

The deadline for conducting a speed test is May 14^th (last day).

For more information:

• Yavapai County: Broadband Initiative - Yavapai, AZ (yavapaiaz.gov) (https://www.yavapaiaz.gov/County-Government/Broadband)

• Coconino County: Broadband Outreach | Coconino (az.gov) (https://coconino.az.gov/3314/Broadband)

• Arizona Commerce Authority: Video on how to take a speed test How to Perform a Broadband Challenge Process Speed Test (youtube.com) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgacj1WYnDY)

• Arizona Commerce Authority: https://www.azcommerce.com/broadband/