By Land Area Coverage and Speed

Rankings = Speed multiplied times percentage of county area covered

Ranking Methodology

For this baseline inventory, ranking will be based on speed availability and the ratio of geographic coverage of each speed tier relative to the master geographic unit of study. Using weighted averages between the two variables produces a score which will assist PCI in evaluating counties against each other for broadband availability. In addition, it will assist in developing an index or score to assess an individual county over time for improvements.

The geographic unit for the ranking and comparison is the county boundaries. This geographic unit is widely understood and relates to many levels of local government, economic development, and PCI eTeam efforts. Geographic coverage is defined as the maximum advertised download speed, based on NTIA speed tier codes, for all carriers at that speed within a county. These speed tiers are summarized for the percentage of the county's geographic area represented by each speed tier. A weighted average for each speed tier's coverage of the county as a percentage was multiplied by the speed tier value itself. In summarizing a county's overall score, each county’s speed tiers weighted averages are summarized, resulting in the broadband score. The maximum value for the score would equal a value of nine for a given county. A value of nine would represent a county with 100% coverage at the fastest NTIA speed tier. Using these scores, a ranking from 1 to 102 was developed representing all Illinois counties, and a ranking from 1 to 14 was developed representing the East Central Regional area counties.

July 2011