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CenterFuse Broadband Feasibility Report • The type of DSL electronics used to serve a customer. There are still older DSL technologies in use that have maximum download speeds of only a few Mbps. • The backhaul network used to provide bandwidth to a feed the DSL network. DSL is like most broadband technologies and bandwidth is shared between users in a given neighborhood. If the total usage demanded by the neighborhood is greater than the bandwidth supplied to the neighborhood, then everybody gets slower speeds while the network is over-busy. • The DSL network has additional bandwidth choke points, which are places in the network that can restrict customer bandwidth if not engineered properly. For example, the neighborhood DSL hubs might contain older technology or not be fully stocked with the circuit cards needed to provide the best service. + And finally, speeds can be impacted by how a customer distributes broadband in the home. For example, an old WiFi router can significantly reduce speeds. All of these factors mean that DSL speeds vary widely. Two adjacent homes can have a significantly different DSL experience. For similar reasons this is also true for fixed wireless. We also can tell by the speed test results that the cable speeds on Charter vary across the city—but in this case the difference are likely more on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis than on a neighbor-by-neighbor basis. Regional Broadband Issues The City of Ellensburg doesn't exist in a vacuum, and regional broadband speeds are significant. We heard from existing employers that there were significant barriers for sending employees home to work who live outside of the city. The residential broadband inside the city was described to us during the study as adequate. Most homes have enough broadband to handle download requirements. However, about a third of homes said they didn't always have good enough bandwidth to work well from home or do schoolwork from home during the pandemic. But the residential bandwidth situation outside the city is far from adequate. It was reported to us during the study that the Charter network doesn't extend far outside of city boundaries, so most households outside of the city must obtain broadband from DSL or fixed wireless. DSL speeds outside the town are even slower than inside the city and DSL customers outside the town are lucky to get more than a few Mbps of speeds. The fixed wireless providers in the area are mostly delivering speeds outside the city under 10 Mbps download. Rural residents can also buy satellite broadband, which has okay speeds but super-high latency that makes it hard to perform real-time tasks like streaming video or connecting to a work or a school server. It matters to the city that there is poor broadband around you. Employers considering moving to Ellensburg are likely going to count this as a negative. Most employers want employees to be able to work from home, even if it's part time. And employers want workforces that are computer literate and are going to worry about being able to hire people in an area with little or no broadband past the city borders. FCC Definition of Broadband Page 35