Frequently Asked Questions
Who is doing this broadband assessment?
The State of New Jersey is solely responsible for this assessment with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities managing the Broadband Assessment Program, in conjunction with their partner, Penfield, NY-based ECC Technologies, Inc. To learn more about the Program, and review additional documents please click here
Why do you need my address?
We ask for your address to help us align the responses and identify where the greatest needs are across the State.
I am concerned about privacy!
It is important for every citizen to be careful and protect their personally identifiable information. Likewise, the State shares and supports your privacy concerns.
For this assessment, we ask for your address to help us group together the many responses we receive across the state.
Your address information, in conjunction with your assessment responses, are used to help the State identify where broadband service is sufficient, and areas of the state where broadband service is insufficient.
Be assured that the State will not release information from this assessment to any third party, but the State does need some personal information, including your address, to help understand what citizens have to say about broadband service and its availability in their respective communities.
Aggregated citizen assessment results will be used to help the State identify broadband service gaps and ways to improve that service to the residents of New Jersey.
Please check our privacy policy page - the link is located at the bottom of each page on this site.
I don’t have broadband at my home or business address. What are my options to complete the survey?
You can certainly complete the survey at any locally available computer such as the public library, or on your cell phone.
Do I need broadband access and service?
Tell us! For many people, broadband access and service is increasingly a part of everyday life. More people are working from home and many students are attending school from home. Seeing a doctor “virtually” is becoming more common.
People of all ages access the Internet to play games, shop or watch movies. All of these activities require strong, reliable broadband access.
A broadband connected community is also more attractive to businesses, enhancing opportunities to attract new companies, and strengthening efforts to retain existing ones. We want to hear your comments and experiences about broadband access and service.
Why is this assessment taking place?
We need your help! The State wants to better understand broadband access, its uses, and consumer adoption of broadband service in order to identify problems and service gaps. We know some areas of the State have more broadband service options than others.
By identifying service problems and gaps, the State can create solutions to expand access and improve broadband service. The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the need for this connectivity as more students are learning “virtually” and more people are working from home.
In order to bring access to better broadband to your community and the State of New Jersey, your help is invaluable. Citizens completing the assessment allows the State to obtain input directly, see where the greatest needs are, and work to advance the availability of broadband.
How much will broadband cost taxpayers?
The State works diligently to pursue public-private partnerships to minimize any direct costs to taxpayers to expand broadband infrastructure, and also works with its Federal partners to leverage Federal funding to support these efforts. Deployment of broadband infrastructure is expensive, but the State, through partnerships and other creative means, continues to find ways to expand broadband infrastructure throughout the state.
With respect to broadband services that residents and businesses choose to subscribe to, those monthly recurring costs vary, like other services you subscribe to, such as electric, gas, and water, depending upon the types of services you select.
I am concerned about security on this site!
The State and ECC take security very seriously and follow recognized safety protocols to help maintain that security. First, this site is a secure site with an SSL certification. An SSL certificate is a type of digital certificate that provides authentication for a website and enables an encrypted connection. These certificates communicate to the user that ECC has proved its ownership of the domain to the certificate authority at the time of certificate issuance.
Second, data obtained from the site is maintained in separate, encrypted databases. This data does not identify an individual, their location, or any other personal information about the respondent or their computer/phone/device.
Third, the survey does require the input of a physical address within your county in New Jersey. This is a vital piece of information because it allows us to create maps that show where the greatest broadband service needs are in your specific county and community. However, this information, as stated above, is used for the State’s broadband service review, and is never released. Your information is protected.