Many people move to rural areas to enjoy the beauty and peace, either for retirement or as a more enjoyable workplace. But once they get there, they miss the big city internet speeds and cell phone network coverage.
Officials and companies serving the recreational area Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri are trying to solve this broadband gap. Four local internet providers — AT&T, Co-Mo Connect, Spectrum (Charter Communications) and VideoDirect recently shared how they deliver high-speed internet to homes and businesses where line-of-sight, aboveground and rock underground make delivery difficult.
Hills, valleys, coves and forests in this part of the state challenge wireless signal delivery aboveground, reports LakeExpo.com. That’s why AT&T is moving towards wireless delivery in the area, according to External Affairs Manager Matt Pritchard.
Speaking to attendees of a Chamber of Commerce “Eggs & Issues” breakfast, he said the state’s flint rock can destroy underground cable over time and rights-of-ways both above and below ground at the lake make installation and maintenance hard. AT&T will use a combination of existing aboveground lines, more cell towers and more antennas on the structures to provide consistent speeds 24/7 by 2020, according to Pritchard. He pegged the cost of each new tower at around $500,000.
VideoDirect’s infrastructure is some 80 percent rural, according to owner Shawn Peppers, and his company too, faces high costs, especially to lay underground cable to deliver internet service for customers who live on the water at the end of long, sparsely populated roads.
That’s why VideoDirect’s infrastructure is all wireless. It erects some of its own towers and leases space on others so it can co-locate antennas. In the last mile to a residence, VideoDirect uses DOCSIS (data over cable interface specification), fiber, or MoCA (multimedia over coax alliance) as needed, according to LakeExpo.com.
Charter Representative Tom Sullivan agreed with the other panelists that the rock underground makes aboveground delivery more cost-effective. Charter intends to add increased bandwidth in the future and plans to add free wireless service in as many places as possible so its customers can use a myriad of devices, according to the account.
In contrast, Co-Mo has more than 3,000 miles of cable installed underground for utilities and other services decades ago still in use. Co-Mo GM Andy Burger characterized fiber as “future-proof technology.” Co-Mo also partners with electric companies to use its aboveground lines to deliver internet speeds of up to 1 gigabit-per-second.
Looking to the future, residential customers want high-speed reliable broadband internet for their phones whether they’re outside on the dock or in the home. It is also imperative for businesses to have reliable phone service regardless of location, according to panelists.
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