WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Berkshire County residents have until July 20 to challenge the federal government's assessment of broadband availability at their home.

 

The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission is the local authority providing access to the Broadband Equity and Deployment initiative, a federal program for funding Internet infrastructure.

 

BEAD, as the program is known, allows individuals to test the available Internet speed where they live in order to ensure that availability is properly tracked by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

 

"The Challenge Process is a crucial step to ensure the accuracy of Internet availability data and maps for the Massachusetts Broadband Institute to deploy funding to expand broadband access across the state," according to the MBI website. "Your participation can help provide a precise picture of broadband needs in Massachusetts."

 

On Monday, Town Manager Robert Menicocci noted the BEAD Challenge during his report to the Select Board at its twice-monthly meeting.

 

"Everyone can put in their address and see if they concur with what the federal government is tracking for their availability of broadband," Menicocci said. "Here, I think we're pretty well covered, and it's pretty accurate. But each individual homeowner can go into this website and, to the extent they don't agree they have access for one reason or another, they can challenge that."

 

According to the MBI website, 2,401 of 2,417 "serviceable locations" in Williamstown are served by broadband, just more than 99 percent.