But town officials are working to change that.
As part of a statewide effort to expand access to broadband, or high-speed internet, the Town of Epsom has spent the past month assessing areas with limited or no broadband.
According to data collected by the NH Broadband Mapping Initiative through the University of New Hampshire, 11.9 percent of places in Epsom are considered underserved, meaning 239 addresses don’t have internet access fast enough to be considered served, while 19 addresses, or less than 1 percent, don’t have broadband available at all.
Regionally, Epsom isn’t the worst, but it’s far from the best. By contrast, in nearby Pembroke, 0.1 percent of businesses and homes don’t have broadband coverage, and in Pittsfield, 15.9 percent of places are inadequately served. Broadband service is spotty in the north of the state, with some areas lacking broadband service in 20 to 50 percent of towns.
Epsom has given residents a month to examine the maps and confirm or dispute the level of service at their address.
These efforts will be made through the state’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program, which aims to provide broadband to New Hampshire residents through a $196.5 million grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The town-by-town data will be used in the process by which broadband providers apply for contracts to provide service to underserved areas.
Matthew Conserva, project manager for the State Broadband Initiative Office, said it’s important for residents to have adequate broadband access because it provides necessary access to the modern outside world. As workplaces and schools transition to a digital environment to adapt to the needs of the pandemic, issues around broadband speeds and access have become more pronounced.
“E-commerce, entertainment, business, education, telehealth — all of these are part of our society,” Conserva said, “and it’s much like the expansion of electricity to rural America in the early 1900s. It’s becoming clear that broadband access is essential to being part of a community.”
Epsom City Council deputy leader Virginia Drew said her home, on a dead-end road, was experiencing communication problems.
“Anything that uses cellphone or internet — my phone, my laptop, my TV — just suddenly drops out,” Drew said. “My TV stops streaming, my phone stops. I’ve bought enhancers to boost my signal, but sometimes it still doesn’t work, even though I paid for the highest speed.”
Drew added that while walking along some streets in Epsom, mobile phone signals and internet connections can be spotty, even close to home.
Councilman Meadow Wysocki, who serves on the town’s economic development committee, has worked with the state through the broadband assessment process and said it’s been difficult to get providers to add service to the area.
“We regularly hear from residents that they are not satisfied with the options available to them or the services they are receiving,” Wysocki said.
Conserva said the state’s broadband projects have received little attention because they fall outside the interests of people with reliable broadband access.
“Obviously, people who have internet assume that everyone has internet,” Conserva added. “That’s not necessarily the case. South Concord is densely populated. It takes a significant return on investment for broadband operators to provide service. People in the north and northwest of the state don’t have internet, and they know they don’t have it.”
