At the request of the King County Council, this project studied the availability and accessibility of Broadband internet services for King County residents. The goal of this project is to identify County areas either served, unserved or underserved by Broadband internet services, determine causes and suggest options to improve Broadband availability for King County residents. The study included a detailed survey of availability for broadband infrastructure in King County and also gathered data via survey responses from a sample of ~3868 King County residents.

The King County Council legislatively required this study to better understand the needs of King County residents that have limited or no broadband access to the internet.

The results of the study and survey are documented using unique tools and are explained below.

1. For a high-level overview of finding’s are described in the 2020 King County Broadband Access Study Story Map. The Story Map is a map-based, visual summary of findings. However, for deeper detail, you may want to access the 2020 King County Broadband Access Study Comprehensive Report.
2. You can access results from the questionnaire survey of residents via the 2020 King County Broadband Access Study Tableau Dashboard. And, you can also download the raw data used in the 2020 King County Broadband Access Study Tableau Dashboard: –
   • Data File - 19MB MS Excel File
   • Data Field Definitions - 119KB MS Excel File

This report uses the FCC’s definition of Broadband speeds i.e., 25Mbps download, 3Mbps upload.

King County Has Identified Two Primary Types of Broadband Challenges: Lack of Availability (Unserved) and Low Levels of Use (Underserved) . The County’s definitions are as follows:

1. Served: An area or address in King County is served with broadband if it can receive internet access with transmission speeds that, at a minimum and on a consistent and reliable basis, provide twenty-five megabits per second download and three megabits per second upload and if none of the factors included in the definition of underserved are present. This definition generally aligns both with federal rules and Washington law.
2. Unserved: An area or address in King County is unserved with broadband if it cannot receive internet access with transmission speeds that, at a minimum and on a consistent and reliable basis, provide twenty-five megabits per second download and three megabits per second upload. This definition generally aligns both with federal rules and Washington law.
3. Underserved: An area of King County is underserved with broadband if the service offered meets any of the following criteria (regardless of speeds): a. It has been adopted by less than 80 percent of residential customers

A future plan for expansion of access is not available at this time. The King County Council will be reviewing this report to determine what steps will be taken to meet identified needs in the future.

If you have further questions or comments, feel free to contact Chris Jaramillo, Manager and Compliance Officer for the King County Office of Cable Communications. Chris can be reached at (206) 263-7880.