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Q&A

Q&A with Ash Wolfson on gaps in the digital roadmap

2:20:04

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Council Member Gutiérrez engages in a Q&A session with Ash Wolfson about potential gaps in the city's digital roadmap and the quality of internet connections.

Discusses the need to address the quality of internet connections, not just coverage
Highlights issues with advertised speeds not matching actual speeds and frequent outages
Notes the lack of a plan to address these quality issues in large parts of the city

Jennifer Gutiérrez

2:20:04

It was a slow process.

2:20:06

I had a couple of just like one or two questions based on your testimony.

2:20:11

Ash, thank you for for your testimony and for your your work with with MESH NYC.

2:20:16

Are you have you or any of the other volunteers at MESH reviewed the the city OTI's digital road Anything I guess from today's hearing and considering that the administration's response and and many of my questions was like, we're doing it, and we're trying to do it in the digital road map.

2:20:35

Where do you think some of the holes are potentially that are not covered by the digital roadmap for example?

Ash Wolfson

2:20:44

I think there's a lot of communities where you know there's been a lot of talk about how extensive coverage is and that's important But what a lot of this conversation has failed to address is the quality of those connections.

2:20:57

In much of the city, even if broadband is technically available, the advertised speeds often don't match the speeds that are available and there were frequent outages, which especially if you're someone who is using it for something like education or for your job, that can be a significant burden.

2:21:20

I believe that in large parts of the city there has not really been an effort to address this lack of quality and that the the OTI hasn't really presented a plan to reach out to significant parts of the city on that basis.

2:21:39

They've really only addressed this very binary question.

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Q&A on strategies to connect holdouts and address the digital divide