Qtnngre.a.a nf u,e 1itniteb §fates 
Ktn.slrington, DCC 20515 
The Honorable Tom Wheeler 
Chairman 
Federal Communications Commission 
445 I i 11 Street, SW 
Washington, DC 20536 
Dear Chairman Wheeler: 
September 18, 2014 
Received & Inspected 
SEP L 5 LU14 
FCC Mail Room 
The proliferation of the broadband access has stimulated economic growth, expanded access to 
information, and acted as a conduit between rural, suburban, and urban communities. Despite the essential 
nature of broadband access in our modern economy, millions of Americans, including thousands of 
Kansans, are still without broadband access. As the FCC proceeds through implementation of Phase II of 
the Connect America Fund (CAF II), we urge the Commission to work with industry and communities 
eager to provide Internet service in a practical manner. 
CAF II offers a tremendous opportunity to bring broadband access to millions of Americans who 
would otherwise go unserved. The economic and social benefits of this connectivity are proven, and 
efforts to build these networks have been met with success time and again. Thanks to the Commission's 
efforts, thousands of rural Americans, including an estimated 80,000 Kansas households, are now 
counting on CAF II to deliver essential broadband access. The June I 0 NPRM has further raised hopes by 
more than doubling the promised download speeds from 4 Mbps to I 0 Mbps, and we commend this goal. 
We acknowledge the Commission's constructive ideas that could help achieve greater bandwidth 
goals without exceeding the CAF II annual budget. In this same spirit, we urge that the CAF II funding 
period be extended from the current 5 years to l 0 years to allow providers adequate time for the 
construction of higher-capacity networks, and we recommend the Commission adopt more fl exible build­
out parameters. 
We also encourage the Commission to be as precise as possible when targeting support to areas 
where broadband would not otherwise be available. CAF II standards should avoid spending federal 
money to reach customers who already have access to broadband service and while working to ensure all 
unserved Americans have access to high speed Internet service. 
As the Commission continues its work to overcome the digital divide, we believe CAF II can be 
a valuable program to achieve this goal if commonsense rules are adopted. We look forward to working 
with you to achieve our shared goal of universal broadband access, and we thank you for your 
consideration 
Sincerely, 
PRINTED ON RECYCLW PAPER