— from ArsTechnica.com —
When you live somewhere with slow and unreliable Internet access, it usually seems like there’s nothing to do but complain. And that’s exactly what residents of Orcas Island, one of the San Juan Islands in Washington state, were doing in late 2013. Faced with CenturyLink service that was slow and outage-prone, residents gathered at a community potluck and lamented their current connectivity.
“Everyone was asking, ‘what can we do?’” resident Chris Brems recalls. “Then [Chris] Sutton stands up and says, ‘Well, we can do it ourselves.’”
Doe Bay is a rural environment. It’s a place where people judge others by “what you can do,” according to Brems. The area’s residents, many farmers or ranchers, are largely accustomed to doing things for themselves. Sutton’s idea struck a chord. “A bunch of us finally just got fed up with waiting for CenturyLink or anybody else to come to our rescue,” Sutton told Ars.
Around that time, CenturyLink service went out for 10 days, a problem caused by a severed underwater fiber cable. Outages lasting a day or two were also common, Sutton said.
To read the full article, go to https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/11/how-a-group-of-neighbors-created-their-own-internet-service/
Thanks to Ed Sutton
I may be late to the party, and everybody but me knows about this, but all I can say is “Sutton, you …. way cool.”
I just read the whole linked article – this is amazing, and thank you @Chris Sutton for saying the magic words, “we can do this ourselves!” and helping your community believe in Power of the People to get things done.
So…does this mean Doe Bay is free and clear of the monopolies of Century Link and OPALCO? If so, this is genius – and my mind wonders why other remote and hilly places on Orcas Island aren’t doing this same thing to free themselves of these monopolies. Perhaps this will give them impetus. And, just as important – Kudos to Chris and the team for actually having the goal to LOWER monthly costs for internet, once the loan is paid off! This is so exciting to read. This is the honest and right way to do things This has integrity, and the welfare of everyone in mind.
I have been struggling mightily with how the OPALCO broadband agenda has been forced upon us, even after a resounding “no” vote last year by the members/stakeholders, and struggle with what’s not being told in the story about the hidden costs of putting fiberoptic infrastructure – which WILL raise our electric bill rates for the foreseeable future; it won’t stop in 2019 with the fixed facility fee rate of $79 per month. And I think of what this means for the workers and low income people who will be forced off island because of yet one more expense that may be the last straw, and it saddens and concerns me greatly.
What can we do? (And i think we can do something!)
The greater question I have for we residents in Eastsound, where everything built is all-electric – especially burdensome for low income and middle income people struggling to pay just for basic electricity, is this: Can/Will the residents of Eastsound, if appropriate land and monies were found to do so, generate their own communications network, too?
And, if alternative communications networks are possible – are alternative power companies possible too, I wonder? We need a competitive power company committed to renewables and conservation, and understanding the needs of its members.
This article inspires me. It proves that we can build our own systems how we want them, if current systems are not listening to our needs.
We have been getting wireless internet through this technology for several years through Orcas Online. They can provide high speed internet to those of us with line-of-site from our residence to one of their transmission radios on the island at a very reasonable price. Not available for all because of our islandsʻs terrain, but more people can probably get it than are aware of the possibility. And we find their service excellent.
Yes, Joyce – I use Orcas Online, and will continue to do so. As long as they can stay clear of OPALCO’s acquisitive appetite, I’ll continue to support them; they have been good to me. Perhaps this is something they will help the people effect in the future. :) It would be amazing to get clear of the bigger communications monopolies altogether; especially any unregulated ones.
OPALCO is not a monopoly. It is a co-op. We own our electrical equipment together. Decades of building out that infrastructure provides the excellent service we get today.
Why would we not run our fiber service with the same attitude?
As a co-op the money that we collect can be just the cost of service. A co-op does not add on to cover stock holder dividends or high management fees. A corporate monopoly surely does not HOLD RATES DOWN during an economic down turn, as OPALCO did to help the members ride through a recession. Corporate investors would depart rapidly if they did as OPALCO has done the last 6 years–keeping the rates steady while the BPA rates rose.
Everyone in this county is a member of the co-op. Orcas On Line is a member also, as are each of those working there. OPALCO has no plans to acquire their share of the market. The expectation is that, given more reliable service at co-op rates, we will be able to assist their business.