USDA Rolls Out New App to Test Broadband Service

A new app called, "Tested", will help crowd-source information on broadband accessibility from around the country, especially in rural areas.  The only catch is, how can you use the app to check on connectivity if you don't have connectivity?

"If you're on a desktop, for example, and you have no broadband accessibility, maybe you click the button and it says "zero", there's no way for that to populate to a database on a fixed location," said Nathan Ohle with the Rural Community Assistance Partnership.  He noted it's times like those where a mobile device comes in handy.

"If you're on a smart phone  through our app, if you click it and it says zero, it won't populate automatically. But as soon as you get in a territory where you get accessibility, it will populate that zero level and the location that you're at, to that national database."]

Ohle said the aim is to provide a national database that reflect the true connectivity picture, not only where the speeds are low, but where are not occurring at all.

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