— from Chris Brems for Doe Bay Internet Users Association (DBIUA) —
Founded as an all-volunteer, community effort over a year ago, the Doe Bay Internet Users Association (DBIUA) recently announced that it has exceeded its initial membership goal.
“Originally we had hoped there would be 30 like-minded Doe Bay neighbors who were interested in broadband,” said Chris Sutton, founding board member of DBIUA. “To our surprise, we now have 50 installed members, and inquiries are coming in weekly.”
Rather than possibly compromise existing members’ service, the DBIUA board has made the decision to concentrate on building out its infrastructure before adding any additional new members.
“We’ve created a waiting list,” explained Sutton, “in order to see if there is enough additional interest to commit to the next level of broadband internet capacity from our microwave supplier. As a nonprofit organization, we need to be sure we have the additional members to cover the increased costs.”
“Our wireless infrastructure is totally scalable,” added DBIUA board member Tom Tillman. “More equipment and capacity can be added as demand goes up. But we must be fiscally responsible. We can’t go back to our members and say ‘Oops, we have a revenue shortfall and need to raise rates.’”
Residents in the Doe Bay area who are interested in high-speed broadband and becoming a member of DBIUA are encouraged to visit www.dbiua.org and contact info@dbiua.org to be added to the waiting list.
DBIUA is a great asset to the Doe Bay community. We have had this service for over 6 months and we could not be happier. After years of frustration with DSL it is refreshing to have high speed reliable access every time we use it. We are never dropped, nor do we find out service to not be available for hours or days at a time as we formerly did. In fairness, we were happy RockIsland customers when we had DSL. Our beef and troubles were provided by CenturyLink. We are happy DBIUA customers, for sure! Thanks Chris, Chris, Tom, and the rest of the team!
Thank you DBIUA Board for your excellent work that exceeds your prudent expectations. You’ve built a valuable Doe Bay neighborhood asset for current and future members that can serve as an aspirational model for others.
Way to go DBIUA for a job well done! You saw a need and took the initiative to fix it.
My heart-felt appreciation & gratitude to those initial team players who saw a need & did the hard work to discover a workable & realistic solution to the DSL service CenturyLink had (& had not) been providing our Doe Bay community. DBIUA is a terrific asset in our community, providing reliable, dependable & fast internet service. The DBIUA team has created a working model that other island communities perhaps might use as a jumping off place for solving spotty & slow-at-best internet service in their areas. I feel most fortunate to be a part of DBIUA & am thrilled every time I turn my computer on! Thank you to all willing hands & minds!