Want Better Internet At Home Online Speed Test Is First Step

Would you like to have better and faster Internet service at home? The first step to getting it may be to take the online speed test that County Commission Chairman Vaughn Rasmussen asked residents to take in a recent letter to the editor of The News-Examiner.

Rasmussen wrote in his Oct. 26 letter that “poor Internet access” in this area “affects our abilities to educate our children, provide access to telehealth services, and operate our businesses.” Bear Lake County, he said, is partnering with Imagine Idaho, a foundation supported by government, health, and educational institutions, to help secure funding for infrastructure improvements that will bring better Internet service or bring it to areas where it isn’t available now.

So why is that speed test important? Rasmussen explained in an interview that government agencies or other groups offering funding always ask applicants, “Do you have a plan for your area?” Bear Lake County needs to have an overall plan for Internet development, but to make that plan, county officials have to know the needs in different areas. When county residents go to /speed-test and take the test at home, Imagine Idaho tabulates the results. With that information, county officials will then be able to pinpoint the areas of greatest need. The county can say to grantors, “’This is what we’ve done,’ and can talk about future plans,” Rasmussen explained.

Direct Communications, the Rockland, Idaho-based company that provides Internet services in Bear Lake County, has installed high-speed fiber optic cable in some cities where grants have been obtained to help pay the costs. Other cities are still on older cable systems that offer slower speeds. In outlying areas like Pegram, Nounan , and Geneva, Internet services simply may not be available to some homes. In other towns—Bern, for example—fiber optic service is available to homes along a main road, where cable has been laid, but not on side streets.

For people who ask why the disparities within the county, the answer is: it’s complicated.

KaLee Ralphs, a spokesperson for Direct Communications, says the company is constantly working to improve service throughout Bear Lake County in every way it can. Fiber optic cable is simply too expensive for the company to install immediately, completely on its own. The cable has been installed in cities that have qualified for help through government or institutional grants. But in cities where fiber optic cable is not available, she says, Direct Communications has been “actively upgrading our [existing] cable network.”

In Paris, for example, fiber optic cable is not available to residential customers, but Direct Communications can still offer customers download speeds up to 250 megabytes per second (mbps). This is a significant improvement over what has been available in the past, and the efforts to improve are continuing. She said the eventual goal for the company would be to offer subscribers one gigabyte per minute speeds on both downloads and uploads.

That may be some time in coming. Right now, speeds vary widely depending on which city you live in and what you’re willing to pay.

A recent informal test illustrated some of the differences. Last week from our home in Paris, I uploaded to YouTube a 33-second video showing some of the beauties of autumn leaves in Bear Lake Valley. The upload took about half an hour; it was a case of “go away and do something else while you wait.” A week later, I asked to test the same upload from the home of friends, the Bee family of Bloomington, who have fiber optic cable. The same 33-second video uploaded in two and one-half minutes in Bloomington. (The video is “Haiku: Rustling Leaves” on YouTube: /pNpN4fS_SXI)

On the day of that upload, we performed the Imagine Idaho speed test on computers in both locations. In Paris, without fiber optic cable, the test showed a download speed of just over 91 mbps and an upload speed of just over 4 mbps. In Bloomington, with fiber optic cable, the test showed a download speed of just over 54 mbps and a matching upload speed of just over 54 mbps.

There are factors other than location involved. At our home, we paid for higher download speeds believing this would also mean faster upload speeds. Wrong.

The Bees actually cut their Internet costs when they got fiber optic cable. They eliminated a landline phone they rarely used and did not opt for the highest speed available on their new service. Nevertheless, higher upload speeds come naturally with fiber optics.

Karen Bee says they also got greater reliability in their Internet service. It does not go down as often as it did in the past. The Bees have been subscribers since the days of dial-up Internet in the valley, when you couldn’t talk on your home telephone and use the Internet at the same time. As technology has changed, local service has improved, she says.

In the past, she indicated, residents might have asked for another Internet service option here. “Five years ago, I would have said yes. But now I’m happy with what we have.”

The crazy quilt pattern of service in the valley can be a problem for others, however. Mrs. Bee notes that her niece, who recently moved into the trailer park in Paris, cannot get service that allows her to work from home. Her work is online, and each day she has to go to the home of friends in Bloomington, who have fiber optic cable, to do her job.

Again, here is a personal example. In retirement, I still do occasional photo or video jobs for clients because I still enjoy practicing my craft. In 2020 and 2021, I did a series of short videos—five to 10 minutes each—for a private foundation in another part of the state. When it came time to deliver them to the client, it was difficult, almost impossible, to upload them to any online sharing site. For some, I had to go to bed, leave the video to upload while I was sleeping, and hope the occasional Internet hiccup would not interrupt the process. In the end, this proved impractical; I had to put some of the videos on flash drives and deliver them in person. In addition, I publish a blog, Learning to Walk by Faith, at It’s necessary to “dumb down” some of my high-resolution photos—reduce the file size—to upload them. Otherwise, uploading takes a long time.

If you are involved in the kind of business that requires uploading high-resolution materials, if you are a student taking online courses, if you need to consult by Internet frequently with health care professionals located in other areas, you may find online life a bit difficult here in the valley, depending on where you live.

Questions may arise as to why there is no other Internet service provider in Bear Lake Valley. The first answer that comes to mind is: What would be the incentive? What would convince another company to make the kind of investment Direct Communications has already made and is making to provide service? The new company would be playing catch-up.

Periodically we receive invitations in the mail for satellite Internet service. What those providers promise is not as good as what is already available at our home. But their service might be an option for homeowners in outlying areas.

For Direct Communications, KaLee Ralphs says demand for broadband services in the valley is growing. It surges during the summer when there are more visitors. It surges during Thursday night football. The demand is unlikely to diminish.

With Internet service, “there has been a huge gap in rural areas,” she says, but both government and non-government sources of funding are available to help. A grant from the United States Department of Agriculture will help bring the Internet to the east side of Bear Lake. And she emphasizes that Direct Communications gladly cooperates in helping local governments apply for grants to help install or upgrade infrastructure.

She also emphasizes that Direct Communications is committed to helping communities the company serves. One way is through a program called “Upgrade Your school.” This program allows subscribers to designate a school district within the company’s service area, and the subscriber’s first payment for service will be donated to that district. Under the program, she says, Direct Communications has donated more than $88,000 to the Bear Lake School District.

Vaughn Rasmussen says the county commission is also willing to cooperate with any city government wanting to apply for grants to upgrade local Internet service. But he pleads for unity, saying the needs of county residents will be better served if everyone is working together. He would ask cities to be part of and work with the county’s planning. Results from the current online speed test may lead to a more comprehensive survey among county residents asking for their individual experiences with Internet usage in their area.

Direct Communications is “top notch” in its service to the community, Rasmussen says. The company has helped in obtaining grants to improve local service, and the county is not looking for another local Internet provider. “We’re working with Direct Communications.”

He explains that Deputy County Clerk Paul Christiansen will be compiling and reviewing the results of the speed test for the county.

Christiansen says this will help show which areas are underserved—or not served at all. He points out that installation of fiber optic cable is one choice for providing service, but service issues also need to be seen in terms of using available dollars to provide broadband service to as many people as possible.

Christiansen said county planners hope that as many residents as possible will take that online speed test before the end of November.

So, if you’re interested in seeing improvements to your Internet service, your first step might be to go to /speed-test right now and take that test.