Broadband connecting rural Madison County to the world

MADISON COUNTY, Ky. — Residents in rural Madison County are connecting to the world faster than ever before. Over 4,500 homes have access to broadband internet service—thanks to state and federal dollars and an investment from Charter Communications.

Adam Griggs has lived in Madison County his whole life. His family lives in the rural part of the county because they enjoy that lifestyle, but it has come with sacrifices.

“I think we always realized that living out in the country in the county it kind of came with the territory, it was just known that you go past a certain line or address that you don’t have internet access out there anymore,” Griggs said.

With their previous internet provider, Griggs and his family could only have one person connected at a time.

“We basically had to ration it, it was more like how it would be if you just had a certain amount of food for a certain amount of people you have to ration it,” Griggs said.

But recently, thousands of homes in rural Madison County became connected to high-speed broadband internet through a combination of state funds, federal funds and investment from Charter Communications.

“I think coming out of COVID really made us realize the urgency of making sure that citizens in our rural part of the county and all over our county for that matter have the opportunity to have access to affordable, quality internet,” said Madison County Judge Executive Reagan Taylor.

Taylor said nowadays internet is considered a utility and is vital to keeping and attracting residents to Madison County.

“Quality internet is going to be just as important as water, electric and sewer and if people don’t have access to that or they go buy a house in the rural part of the county, my answer to that was probably not,” Taylor said.

Griggs’s dad, Robert, a former computer programmer, is also impressed. He said it allows him to get information out faster and easier through his work with the Kentucky Masons.

“It’s just elation because it was like going from darkness to suddenly having daylight and being able to see possibilities for the future,” Robert Griggs said.

Both the Griggs say their broadband internet service through Spectrum allows them to stream on multiple TVs at once, play video games and get work done all at the same time.

Madison County has a website dedicated to the rural broadband expansion with an interactive map showing the status in your area.

Charter Communications and its brands, known as Spectrum, are the parent company of Spectrum News.