Santa Barbara County is asking residents to complete an online survey and speed test to help identify areas of the county with poor internet connectivity. Phase one of a project to improve internet access in Santa Barbara County started Tuesday, March 22nd. 

How You Can Help

Please take a minute to complete a Santa Barbara County broadband internet needs assessment survey and speed test on a personal computer or laptop at home, work, or wherever you connect. Click here to start: www.sbcag.org/broadband
Please complete before May 31st.  You can also simply scan the QR code to the right to get started.

Information collected helps to improve affordable access to high-speed internet countywide. Individuals can also identify areas with low or no service, or where access to the internet is unaffordable within this test. Privacy controls protect responses and anonymous participation is an option. If you do not have internet, please call Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) at 1-805-961-8902 to report why you don’t.

The Broadband survey and speed test is available in English and Spanish.

“The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light what many residents were already unnecessarily enduring, the lack of reliable and affordable access to internet,” said SBCAG Board of Directors Vice-Chair Jenelle Osborne, mayor of the City of Lompoc. “The broadband survey and speed test is vital to our efforts to advocate for fast, flexible, affordable, and reliable internet service for all residents and businesses in our county.”

The Broadband Alliance of Santa Barbara County (Alliance) formed in October 2021 to develop a regional broadband strategic plan through a partnership between the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, County of Santa Barbara, and the cities of Buellton, Carpinteria, Goleta, Guadalupe, Lompoc, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, and Solvang, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, Broadband Consortium of the Pacific Coast (BCPC), and regional economic development organizations.

The plan will be completed by the end of 2022 and with that, the Alliance will seek funding opportunities for projects to improve internet access in homes, schools, businesses, healthcare, and facilities to high-speed internet countywide. “Each of us can do one very important thing to improve internet access and affordability. If your internet is too slow or unreliable or expensive, take the one-minute broadband internet survey and speed test before May 31,” said SBCAG Director Joan Hartmann, county supervisor. 

In December 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom signed historic legislation, Broadband for All, to advance the State’s commitment to bring affordable access to high-speed internet service across California. Many rural areas are hard-pressed to find high-speed internet, leaving the businesses and residents at a disadvantage for education, disaster preparedness and healthy industry competition.

Visit the EconAlliance Document Library for the Santa Barbara County Broadband Strategic Plan Fact Sheet.