CostQuest Associates

✅ Empowering the #broadband industry for over 23 years, CostQuest Associates (CQA) offers a wide range of data products and consulting services to support the diverse needs in the broadband industry! 🎯The team is dedicated to helping our clients reach their goals and committed to providing solutions that deliver the confidence and assurance needed to make effective decisions for the future. 👉 Follow the link below to learn about who CostQuest is, company values, and a quick overview of the various services and data products CostQuest offers! #broadbandnetworks #broadbandaccess #broadbandforall

🌐 The Broadband Data Collection Filing window is now open! A new version of the Fabric (June 2024 update - Version 5) is also being made available to existing Fabric licensees to support their upcoming BDC Filings. 📆 Broadband Service Providers have until September 1st to match where their internet service is available as of June 30, 2024, to the Version 5 Fabric locations and file to the Broadband Data Collection Portal. 🗺 Once the new ISP service availability data is matched and filed with the Version 5 Fabric locations, the National Broadband Map will be updated later this year with the Version 5 Fabric and June 30, 2024, service data. *To clarify Version 4 of the BDC Service Availability data + Version 4 Fabric locations is the most recent complete dataset of #broadband coverage across the U.S. This recent window opening starts the process of creating Version 5 of the BDC Service Availability data. 🔗 Click the link below for more information. https://lnkd.in/gNWCtCxz

🎇 Happy Fourth of July! It’s not only the birthday for the USA, but also a key milestone as US government agencies make significant progress in implementing funding programs to expand internet access across the nation. As of today, 15 states and territories have their #BEAD Initial Proposal Volume 2 approved by the NTIA: ✅ Colorado, Delaware, DC, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Washington, and West Virginia. 🌐 This approval kicks off the Subgrantee Selection Process, where states and territories set up grant programs to distribute BEAD funds to deploy #broadband service to unserved and underserved areas. With everyone working hard to expand internet to all, there’s lots to celebrate this holiday. Have a great fourth! #fourthofjuly #broadbandaccess #digitaldivide

✨ It’s time for another employee spotlight, meet Virmar Sosa, a new Project Manager and Business Analyst at CostQuest!     ✅ Virmar supports network valuation and state program projects from data collection management to process documentation, and is transitioning into leading client-facing projects.     🎾 When she’s not managing projects, Virmar is an avid tennis player, enthusiastic cyclist, loves hiking the great outdoors, and a big dog lover!     Welcome to the CostQuest Team Virmar! We’re happy to have you. #employeespotlight #broadband #digitaldivide

It’s our 90th birthday this week! We are officially a nonagenarian. In honor of our nine decades, here are some of our favorite facts about history of U.S. telecommunications, and our role within it 📻 ☎ 📺 Public cell phone testing began in 1977 in Chicago. The first mobile phone was nicknamed ‘the brick,’ weighing almost 2 pounds. It took ten years for the next model to come out, a Motorola that weighed 1 pound, was over a foot tall, cost $3,995 and took ten hours to charge. We're a direct result of the sinking of the Titanic. After the disaster, the Radio Act of 1912 was passed, mandating radio users to monitor distress signals for passenger ships in U.S. waters. The Act required all broadcasters to receive a license, creating the FCC. TV trivia time - the ship that crashed on Gilligan’s Island – the S.S. Minnow – was named after the first FCC Chairman, Newton Norman Minow. The FCC was originally called the Federal Radio Commission and had three bureaus: The Telegraph Bureau The Telephone Bureau and the Broadcast Bureau The first radio broadcast was from KDKA out of Pittsburgh on November 2, 1920, announcing the live returns of the Presidential election between Warren G. Harding and James Cox. Heinrich Hertz was a German physicist and first to prove that you could transmit and receive electric waves wirelessly. The Hertz is the fundamental building block of radio and every frequency measurement. In the 1980s, the FCC launched the 800 MHz Cellular Service, the first “cell phone” spectrum band, sparking a worldwide mobile revolution. Using these frequencies, wireless operators have deployed generations of wireless networks covering more than 99% of the U.S. population 🖁 That’s a wrap on our history roundup! We’ll keep working on behalf of the public to ensure that vital communications services are available to everyone in the country. Thank you for celebrating our 90th birthday with us! 🍰

🍏 The CostQuest team in Seattle recently volunteered at Food Lifeline and helped package an impressive 5,841 pounds of food for the fight against hunger in Western Washington.     🚚 Food Lifeline rescues surplus food from grocery stores and redistributes it to a network of 350 food banks, shelters, and meal programs, providing over 282,000 meals daily.     We're proud to support such an impactful organization and contribute to its mission of ending hunger and making use of surplus food that would otherwise be thrown away.     Every effort counts, and together, we can make a real difference! 💪     #CQACares #broadband 

✅ Quality data + Quality planning = Quality deployment projects 👇 Impactful #broadband deployment projects rely heavily on reliable data and GIS tools to guide initiatives in the right direction. ⚠ Why? Because unreliable data may mislead decision-making, business operations, and potentially widen the digital divide, not close it. ➡ In most cases, the core underlying datasets directing projects should match the standard national datasets used in federal programs to sync operations from beginning to end and streamline compliance requirements. 🌐 So, what GIS information should organizations capture to map out and guide broadband deployment projects? Especially those applying for #BEAD or other federal grants? Swipe through the images below to explore 👇 All the data below can be found in CostQuest's: BroadbandFabric Datasets: https://lnkd.in/dTFbrnJ8 OnLook GIS Broadband Analytics App: https://lnkd.in/gAMmiNZ6 #gisdata #digitaldivide

📈 The #broadband industry is facing dynamic changes, and with that comes impacts to the value of network businesses! Dive into our latest article to explore: - How network valuations are changing across the broadband industry  - What’s driving these changes - from rising build costs to competition  - And what it means for your network value ... potential opportunity? Read more below ⬇️ #broadbandnetworks #digitialdivide 

🔍 Looking to join a dynamic team whose goal is to help revolutionize the #broadband industry and close the digital divide? Come join our team! We’re seeking a 👇 ➡️ Director of Government Contracting  ️➡️ Senior Network Consultant  ➡️ Back-End Web Developer  ➡️ Front-End Web Developer    If you're passionate about making a difference, navigating challenges, and taking the lead on creating solutions, we want to hear from you!     Our team is small, friendly, and quickly growing, and we’re looking for talented professionals to help us make positive impacts across communities.    🌐 Learn more about these roles and apply via our LinkedIn company page.    🔗 Or visit our website: http://bit.ly/3GLHrcO    #jobopportunities #hiring #digitaldivide

✨ The crew in Cincinnati recently took a break from #broadband to lend a helping hand! The team spent the day at The Freestore Foodbank organizing, packing, and distributing essential food supplies to local families in need. 🍎   Remember, small acts can make big impacts. It’s the little things we can do for one another that can make the biggest difference in other people’s lives. 🤝   #volunteering #CQACares