According to a new study by Connecting Mason County, more than half of Mason County residents are unsatisfied with their internet connection, and 12 percent of Mason county households can’t get internet
The non-profit says geography plays a large part in the lack of internet access.
Monica Schuyler, the spokesperson for Connecting Mason County, says she was surprised that despite around 87 percent of households in the county having access to the internet, the quality of the internet was not up to expectations.
“I was very shocked that of those with access, how many were really struggling with slow or unreliable speeds," Schuyler said. "It was really clear from some of the comments that people were band-aiding between satellites and hotspots and cell phones and trying to do whatever it took to make it work".
Schuyler detailed that Connecting Mason County plans to take that information to commissioners in the hopes of developing a solution, and that one of those solutions could be having the county own the internet infrastructure but opening it up to providers.
“Ya know, think about roads: instead of having Fedex and Amazon and USPS build their own highway system, they all share one," Schuyler said. "Well, could we take that same approach with Internet and fiber cable?".
It's estimated to cost around 36 million dollars to get all of Mason County connected to the internet.