An upcoming $1 billion in federal funding dedicated to enhancing the state’s internet infrastructure is coming to Illinois under the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program. The Illinois state-level BEAD challenge process will begin in mid-January 2024, allowing the state to request modifications to an Illinois map. The goal is to highlight regions lacking adequate broadband internet service. Guilherme Martins, a software engineer affiliated with the Internet Equity Initiative (IEI), directed by Alexis Schrubbe, has developed a website (beadchallenge.org), with open-source tools, that enables citizens to conduct speed tests and capture quality of service metrics. The IEI team hopes to gather quality of service measurements statewide and will use these data to challenge the Illinois broadband map.

Run a Speed Test