The Missouri Office of Broadband Development (OBD) needs your help as they work toward their goal of Connecting All Missourians to high-speed internet. Missouri was allocated over $1.7 billion, from the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, to bring high-speed internet service to all locations in Missouri lacking access to internet service speeds of at least 100/20 Mbps. In February, OBD released the new Missouri Broadband Map that shows the level of service offered at each Missouri address.

From March 25 through May 8, Missourians are invited to help ensure the accuracy of the map. If the broadband availability on the map does not accurately reflect broadband availability, you can submit data on broadbandmap.mo.gov. This required state challenge offers community leaders and members of the public new tools to validate broadband availability in their area, including the ability to take speed tests and to trigger “area challenges” in cases of widespread misreporting.

For assistance with this process, MU Extension faculty and staff in your region are ready to help. Visit the MU Extension site to find the location and contact information of the MU Extension office in your county.

OBD has published a series of resources available online. This page will serve as a landing page for people with questions about the state challenge process. It will be updated as any additional information and supplemental training materials, including how to videos, become available.