Operating out of Salem, Virginia since 2003, B2X has seen the need for fixed wireless service take off, especially during the past year, reports Roanoke.com. “We see us as being the possibility for people that don’t have any internet,” said CEO and company co-founder, Warren Kane. “Also as the stopgap, until a cable provider comes in.”
Responding to the need for connectivity highlighted by the pandemic, B2X has ramped up services to provide internet access to the most remote areas of Roanoke, Appomattox, Bedford, and Campbell counties. B2X has hired four additional tower crews to install wireless mesh broadband equipment across the four counties. The crews erected a series of 50-foot small cell poles in areas previously lacking structures that would support broadband delivery hardware.
“There were almost 25 people we were able to provide jobs to during that expansion,” Kane told Roanoke.com. “Most of them are still working today.”
Funding provided by the federal CARES Act made the expansion possible, and was further subsidized by funds contributed by the counties. The build-out has allowed B2X to extend service throughout the region, reaching anyone within five miles of a transmitter. Connection speeds have continued to improve, approaching almost 100 megabits per second.
“What this is doing for us and everybody else is giving people the chance to connect in ways they haven’t done before, and it also gives them better understanding what is available on the internet,” Kane stated. “I’m happy we’ve been able to be a part of that, and are able to provide that type of service for people to use at home.”
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