R.I. Web users asked to test online speed

PROVIDENCE – Web surfers, start your engines.

The R.I. Economic Development Corporation has created a new website, broadband.ri.gov, and the agency is asking Rhode Islanders to visit the site and take a “Speed Test” that tests how fast their Internet connections are. The data collected will be used to help create a map of broadband availability across the state.

The site is the centerpiece of the EDC’s Rhode Island Broadband Initiative, a new project funded with $1.5 million in federal stimulus money awarded in December.

The EDC will spend about $1 million to collect and verify the availability, speed and location of broadband access across the state on a semiannual basis over the next two years. The roughly $500,000 remaining will pay for five years of broadband planning activities.

All 50 states are set to receive similar grants. The Massachusetts Broadband Institute got $2 million last month to do that state’s broadband research.

Roughly 700,000 of Rhode Island’s nearly 1 million residents used the Internet either at home or elsewhere in 2009, up from 653,000 in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The state ranked 25th in Internet use among the 50 states and Washington, D.C.

The broadband data for Rhode Island collected by the EDC will be compiled with information from other states to create a national broadband map that the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration plans to publish by February 2011.

The interactive online map will show broadband availability, speeds and technology, as well as whether it is accessible at community institutions such as hospitals, schools and libraries. It will also be searchable by address and show providers that offer service on the neighborhood level.

Additional information is available at broadband.ri.gov.