Ting Continues Fiber Expansion, A North Carolina Broadband Story, Broadband’s Impact in Alaska

November 8, 2021 – Ting Internet announced Monday that it has launched its fiber internet in Dover, Idaho.

The Tucows subsidiary said the surrounding area has been plagued by older technology that was “prone to slower service and network interruptions,” but the new fiber infrastructure will mean customers will not share bandwidth with neighbors, which it said will increase speeds and reliability.

The data cap-less gigabit internet will cost $89 per month. Other services on offer include $39 monthly for 50 Megabits per second download and $69 for 200 Mbps, the company said, adding it offers business internet as well.

Ting added that it will continue expanding service in the surrounding areas throughout the rest of the year, so long as weather permits.

A North Carolina city provides global digital divide solution

One North Carolina city addressed broadband issues a decade ago and is sharing its success.

In Wilson, NC, the town council partnered with broadband network Greenlight to provide service to about 1,000 homes. It was the first municipality-owned and operated network in North Carolina and one of the first in the country, ABC 11 News reported on Friday.

The North Carolina map for broadband availability shows that around 10 percent of households in the state do not have access. In rural areas, the problem is providers say they won’t get a return on their investments because of the lack of population density.

“Internet providers pay for their investments with subscribers. So, if there are fewer subscribers in a mile of road, out in a rural part of the state, they won’t make their money back in time,” said Nate Denny, North Carolina’s deputy secretary for broadband and digital equity.

Although municipality-owned broadband networks are a solution for other state’s local needs, that isn’t an option for North Carolina counties. Shortly after Greenlight started enlisting subscribers, North Carolina lawmakers passed a law largely restricting other municipalities from creating their own network and limiting Greenlight from expanding beyond county lines.

Denny hopes private internet providers will be attracted to rural areas with grants the state is awarding. North Carolina has already awarded more than $30 million grants to connect more than 16,000 households.

Broadband’s impact in Alaska

The introduction of broadband is changing lives for western Alaskans.

Once Akiak gets high-speed broadband later in November, the cost of broadband will decrease and internet speeds will more than double, National Public Radio reported Monday.

NPR profiled Lena Foss in Akiak, Alaska, and wrote about how broadband will transform her daily activities She tried to fix a broken dryer she found, but couldn’t get a connection fast enough to learn how to fix it. “First thing I did was YouTube how to replace a belt. But the internet was so slow and I thought I was wasting gigabytes so I turned that off before I completely finished how to fix the dryer.

In Akiak, a town with 460 residents, the promise of high-speed broadband in the rural environment was a “fantasy” for the community. For Shawna Williams, getting her college degree was more difficult without faster internet. She couldn’t even load a PowerPoint in the evenings.

Experts at the Brookings Institution say that the pandemic heightened awareness for broadband inequalities and federal funding is making upgrades to faster internet possible. The federal government allocated large portions of its COVID-relief funding to rural and tribal lands with the goal of improving their connection.

Akiak Chief Mike Williams says with internet at home, their tribe will be ready to endure another lockdown. “We’re going to be prepared this time” he said, according to NPR.