Merit BEAD Mapping Challenging

Residents and business owners with limited or no access to broadband at their home or business can now take part in the BEAD Mapping Challenge, which helps to identify properties throughout Michigan in need of improved broadband.

In November 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal — was signed into law. This legislation provided $550 billion dollars in federal funding to improve roads, bridges, mass transit, water infrastructure, broadband, and more.

Out of this law came the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. BEAD is a high-speed internet grant program that will provide $42.45 billion dollars to expand high-speed internet access to unserved and underserved locations across the country. Funding was allocated on a state-by-state basis, with Michigan receiving $1.559 billion dollars.

Before any funding can be awarded, it is crucial that each jurisdiction identifies whether a home or business is served, underserved, or unserved. The number of underserved or unserved areas determines the amount of BEAD funding that is allocated. The definitions for served, underserved, and unserved are as follows:

Served is classified as an address with broadband service that meets or exceeds 100 megabits per second (Mbps) download speed and 20 Mbps upload speed (100/20 Mbps).

Underserved is classified as an address with broadband service below 100/20 Mbps but higher than 25/3 Mbps.

Unserved is classified as an address with no internet access, an address who utilizes digital subscriber line (DSL), an address who uses a satellite, or an address with broadband service below 25/3 Mbps.

To participate and determine how your location is classified, visit Michigan’s Broadband Map (www.michiganbroadbandmap.com) and identify if your property is listed as served, underserved, or unserved by broadband service.

If your property is accurately listed as underserved or unserved, you do not need to take action. If the map lists your property as served, but you are not receiving the broadband service or speeds that the map lists, you have an opportunity to challenge this and correct your listing by completing the Mapping Challenge at: https://challenge.merit.edu/.

Citizens can participate in the challenge process through April 23, 2024.

After the challenge period has ended, internet service providers will then have 30 days to provide rebuttal evidence for any challenges received. Once the rebuttal period has passed, a decision will be made about each challenged location. All final determinations will be published after the conclusion of the challenge process.