Rural Choices: Starlink, 5G, and more

 03/30/2021 -  WCCBP -  ~3 Minutes

If you’ve been in a rural part of the peninsula this past year, you’ve probably struggled with poor internet connectivity. This post is a quick recap of a few new options launching in 2021, what you can expect in our area, and how to learn more.

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Option 1: SpaceX Starlink (and Kupier and One Web)

Starlink has made some big waves recently, and for good reason: they’ve launched the biggest privately owned satellite constellation in the world. Their goal is to provide global high speed Internet access at a good price: $100/mo with no contract.

Unlike current satellite providers, there are no data caps or time-of-use restrictions. It’s also using a very different type of satellite, so the latency (lag) is very low.

Early reports from real customers are promising. Speeds >100Mb (up and down) are common, and many are reporting periods where it’s >300Mb.

For Olympic Peninsula residents, the biggest catch is that you need a big patch of open sky that points north. Any tall trees, buildings, or mountains block the signal. Since the satellites are always in motion, trees can result in brief outages (similar to driving while using your cell phone.) You also need to mount the dish within ~100ft of a power outlet.

That’s a major drawback for many of us. If you don’t own the trees blocking your view, don’t want to cut them, or live on a southern slope, you may not be able to see enough sky.

However, if you can see the sky and afford to pay the $600 fee, Starlink is a very promising option.

Read more about how it works   and frequently asked questions   put together by early customers.

In a few years, two other companies, Kuiper   and One Web   , expect to launch similar networks. The same restrictions on view to space will apply.

Option 2: LTE/5G “Home Internet”

Unlike your cell phone or hotspot, the “home internet” product does not have caps or speed throttling. The only limit is they are tied to your address, so you can’t move the router around. Speeds can be fast enough for a family to stream video, work, and go to school at the same time.

The drawback is you’re using the same cell towers your phone does. Real-world tests report issues with slow speeds   . What’s more, while 5G is coming to existing towers, the new service doesn’t fix deadspots. Remote areas also get a different 5G that’s tuned for long range over speeds, so if you’re far from town or a tower, speeds are even further limited.

The good news is that the plans are much cheaper than Starlink. T-Mobile service officially launched nationwide in April, and Verizon is slowly rolling their new service out as the network is upgraded.

For those with some cell phone coverage at home but lacking a good broadband option, these services may be a good fit.

-Robert (the tech guy)

August 2017 - Internet is here, but not from us!

 08/21/2017 -  WCCBP -  ~2 Minutes

It’s been a long while since our last public meeting, and we have been working to secure the necessary contracts with the various parties to begin launching the network before the snows return this winter. After all this time we received our final terms from the company in Hawaii (yes, Hawaii) who purchased the towers on Mt Jupiter this spring.

And then something else happened. When we plugged our trusty radio in to do some site surveys, we noticed a new signal from the tower. A commercial provider had arrived. On July 28, North Olympic Wireless   launched wireless service from the same tower we had been negotiating to use on Mt Jupiter. NOPDC is the same company we had mentioned in our original presentations, and who has also been attending all of our community meetings along the way.

While we can’t claim original inspiration, they were moved by the community interest, and have been planning expansion to our area. That day has arrived, as service is now available for the Dosewallips river valley, and has been available to homes with line of sight to Seabeck since late last year.

For us working on the West Canal Community Broadband Project, a lot of time and energy went into designing the network, finding vendors, community meetings, and financial planning. It would have been exciting to put that work to good use, and have the chance to create a permanent non-profit whose goal is to drive pricing lower and expand access for the community. While we’re disappointed that our non-profit idea won’t go forward, there are a lot of advantages to this plan: North Olympic Wireless (NOPDC) already has a local team who do this full time, they have more experience, and they offer services at lower price points than we could.

While we’re not managing the radios ourselves, we believe our project brought visibility to a dire need in the community, and had a hand in encouraging someone like NOPDC to bring service faster than they would have otherwise.

If you’re interested in service you can contact their sales department or visit their Facebook Page   .

Thanks for following.

Robert, Phil and Jim

May 2017 Update - Slow Progress

 05/22/2017 -  WCCBP -  ~3 Minutes

It’s been almost 6 months since our last community meeting, and although we’ve shared a few updates over Email, we wanted to take a moment to share more with you. Although we’d hoped to make a bit more progress before the rain fades, a combination of work and community planning has taken its toll (did we mention that Phil, among his many roles, is also leading Shrimpfest   this weekend?)

The good news is that we have made some important progress behind the scenes, and are gearing up for the next steps this summer. Here’s a quick update of what we’ve done so far in 2017.

Network Planning - Door by Door

Since our meeting in December, we’ve compiled over 400 names from people interested in service in the area. While that’s exciting, it’s given us the data we needed to study where we need service the most. As many of you who signed up know, there are a lot of people who don’t have easy line of sight to Mt Jupiter.

We learned a few things from our study: there is a lot of demand in the Olympic Canal Tracts, lower Lazy C Ranch, and in a variety of smaller clusters along the waterfront. The technology we’re building the network with is designed to work best when you can “see” your neighbor or the tower. That means line of sight to a neighbor who is interested in service, a pole that can “see” a bunch of homes, or the tower itself.

We need volunteers to work together to survey the last mile.

In particular, we need help from people who live in and know the OCT and Lazy C. To get a briefing on what it takes, read our handout . If you’re interested, Email Robert (the tech guy.)

Our hope is to conduct a planning over the Memorial Day weekend.

Legal Planning

We’ve also been hard at work on the legal structure for the network. While we can’t announce our plans yet, we’re working to reduce startup costs by leveraging an existing non-profit vehicle in the area. Look for more in our next update.

Network Provider and Cost

The next-to-last (and best) news is that we’re working with a new provider, who has a lot more experience in the area, and who has helped us greatly reduce the initial cost of building the network connection to Kitsap. This was our single largest risk (so far), and we now have a clear path toward launch.

Funding Meetings

Our final update revolves around funding. A number of members in the community have stepped forward and offered tentative funding - enough we may be close to enough to get a network online this summer. If you’d like to help but haven’t contacted us, please Email us .

December 2016 Community Meeting

 11/16/2016 -  WCCBP -  ~1 Minute

Join us for our next community meeting in Brinnon at 4PM on December 3rd, 2016 in the Brinnon Community Center.

November 2016 Community Meeting Recap

 11/06/2016 -  WCCBP -  ~3 Minutes

Approximately seventy-five people attended a short notice, community broadband meeting in Brinnon, Washington, on Saturday, November 5th. The meeting was part of an organizational effort by folks between the Hama Hama and Mt. Walker who either have no, or miserable broadband service. The group plans to take things into their own hands and establish a community owned system if commercial providers continue to ignore the area.

It was an old fashion, rural community get together on three days’ notice. The town hall meeting of the West Canal Community Broadband project, WCCBP, (as they call themselves) lasted ninety minutes, then broke into small group question and answer sessions. Growing quickly and driven by incredulous experiences with incumbent providers, where available, and the WCCBP website has nearly a hundred applicants.

After over two years of research and options evaluation, the leaders are proposing a wireless broadband system for the area. The signal, at least a full gigabit, would come in from the east, Seabeck area, to Mt. Jupiter. From there the service would be carried by a non-profit cooperative corporation made up of and owned by members of the community who become an owner/member. The signal would be relayed from points in Brinnon and Black Point, up and down the west canal. The group’s target service area is centered on the Duckabush and Dosewallips valleys, extending north toward Pulali Point and south to Canal Tracts, Eaglemount, Triton Cove, Beacon Point, and Eldon.

“It’s been more than 5 years since Washington D.C. invested in a statewide fiber-optic network. Our community constantly hears of alleged service in our area, only to learn the incumbents have no plans to expand service, and our only choices remain high cost national providers that limit use and keep speeds low. Research tells us of federal money for rural areas with no broadband, but Hood Canal Communications, WAVE and CenturyLink have failed to serve the area adequately,” said Phil Thenstedt, co-coordinator of the WCCBP. “DSL service is 20th Century and at peak times, dial up is faster.” As one attendee put it, “I guess we aren’t rural enough for the federal money, right?”

Thenstedt added, “We’ve done our homework, and pretty much have the technical side scoped out. We know it’s possible. In the end, this will come down to money, as it always does. We are looking at federal, state and local assistance, but since they have ignored us this long, it is highly probable that we will need to go it alone. We’re now focusing our work on creating and financing a co-op structure so the community remains in control, and we can move quickly.”

WCCBP is planning a second town hall meeting for December, 3rd, 4PM, Brinnon Community Center, Brinnon Washington.

We’re in the news!

 11/04/2016 -  WCCBP -  ~1 Minute

Special thanks to the Peninsula Daily News, who included a small article about our work in the November 4th edition. Read more about it here   .