Getting Started
10/31/2016 - WCCBP - ~3 Minutes
Welcome to the West Canal Community Broadband site. We’re a small group of local residents fed up with expensive and slow Internet, and we’re taking it on ourselves to do something about it.
Before we get started, we wanted to let you know who we are: residents of the local community who live, work, and/or play here throughout the year. We’re spread up and down the Hood Canal, from Mount Walker to Hama Hama, and we’re stuck without Internet connections or forced to pay for extremely expensive and unreliable choices.
Many of us work remotely (at least part of the time), and know Internet access is critical to help bring jobs and opportunity to Brinnon. With a good connection, you can be a graphic designer or hold a remote customer service position, all without having to leave your home or commute dozens of miles every day. Our kids also benefit, since they can research and participate in online education from home. After hours, our families can enjoy things like watching the latest movie online without having to buy it or drive to pick up a rental.
We started our project trying to convince local providers to expand service in the area. Every provider we talked to said no, or offered a package that was too expensive or limited for a family to use without counting gigabytes or worrying about overage charges.
That’s when we started looking for other choices. After all, people were installing Internet in rural villages across the globe that barely have running water or infrastructure. Why can’t we get a decent signal in Brinnon?
We found out that yes, it is possible, and for a lot less money than we originally thought. Using a combination of local infrastructure already in place, then adding some new equipment to the mix, we can launch our own Internet access service, shortcutting the red tape and bypassing the slow-to-act incumbents.
That brings us to the current day: we’ve done the research on the technology, we know how far we can send our signal, and we even have a detailed business plan and cost model that we think can work for Brinnon.
What we need now is your help in the community - we need to know who is interested, what you are currently paying (or can afford) for Internet service, and where you want service installed. Armed with that information, we can complete our network design and finalize things like monthly pricing.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be working to set up town hall meetings in the area to meet more people face to face and discuss what it will take to get things started.
In the interim, let us know if you have questions by sending us a note at [email protected] .