Every day it’s getting closer

 

Expanding broadband access to every nook and cranny of Goochland has been a toothache for a long time. Covid lockdowns made the digital divide a painful abscess.

Given the variety of providers and varying residential density, the solution to the problem here will not be a one size fits all. In recent years, some homes around the county—there are “broadband deserts” all over the place— used wireless options with varying degrees of satisfaction. Others were just out of luck. Things are changing.

When Goochland schools went virtual, the county set up hotspots at fire-rescue stations and other places in underserved areas. Kajeet hotspots were distributed by the school division to help students keep up with classwork during the lockdowns. While these methods provided some measure of connectivity and were better than nothing, they are stop gap measures.

Univeral deployment of broadband is complicated by regulations and funding. The county wants to partner with private providers who can respond rapidly to changes in technology to deploy high speed internet access.

Last year, Goochland signed on to a regional partnership with Central Virginia Electric Coop and its subsidiary Firefly broadband https://www.fireflyva.com/  to expand high speed internet access in un and underserved areas of the county.

(Among the difficulties in universal deployment of broad is knowing exactly where the dead spots are. The FCC, for instance, is using five-year-old data that incorrectly indicates the Covington subdivision is served by Comcast. Accurate current information about broadband availability is crucial to secure grant funding. Your help is needed to define the unserved area map.  Please visit www.fireflyva.com/rise/ from your home computer using your home internet connection and follow the link to complete a short survey providing your address and what internet service options you have.)  

The county also joined a regional partnership that includes electric utilities Dominion Energy and Rappahannock Electric Coop to further expand access. Regulatory roadblocks have prevented electric providers from using their rights-of-way and other infrastructure for broadband expansion in the past. The urgent need for universal broadband access should ease or eliminate these obstacles.  The final product will be a patchwork of providers and systems. Ideally, having several providers in Goochland will lead to competition for customers, better service, and perhaps lower costs. But we’re not there yet.

At their July 6 meeting, Goochland’s supervisors got an update on a project connecting the Crozier area. Community Affairs Manager Paul Drumwright, the county’s point person on broadband, explained that grant applications filed with the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative (VATI) were only partly successful. One filed with Firefly failed. Another filed with local Port80 Internet Service Solution (port80.us) was successful.

“The biggest challenges for broadband expansion are density and money,” Evan Weiner, principal of Port80, said. “In a rural setting where you may have five houses per mile, the cost per home (to connect to broadband) can be exorbitant.”

Weiner explained that Port80 is a partnership between Hosted Backbone, headquartered in Goochland, and MMIS, which works out of Mechanicsville. MMIS does interior work while Hosted Backbone does the outside plant work. (The large spools of orange cable on the south side of Rt. 6 near the Men’s Farm are part of this project.) He said that Port80 began internet deployment in Goochland began in 2019 when waterlines were being run in the Old Oaks subdivision east of Cardwell Road, north of Rt. 6 in Crozier. Weiner said that Port80 was able to coordinate construction between the two projects and connect homes in the area. This local company also provides internet for the county and schools.

Since then, Weiner said, Port80 worked its way west along Rt. 6 connecting people all the way to Maidens Road. He reported that Port80 has talked to with all subdivisions in the Crozier area that need broadband service, but for some, cost remained a barrier to connection. However, the combination of funds from the VATI grant, county, and Port80 will change that. Monthly costs vary from $80 to$170 for speeds ranging from 100 megabits to a gigabit. Port80 does not provide wireless routers to customers, Weiner said, contending that each account has unique needs. “There’s no good cookie cutter solution for that.”

The Port80 network is all fiber optic cable, no wireless.  “That allows us to deliver top quality service at a competitive price and control the variables. Fiber may cost a little more at the front end, but allows us to deliver reliable service,” Weiner explained.

Supervisor Don Sharpe, District 2, who has had Port80 service at his home for two years said that the “service is better than national companies, and the speeds are excellent.”

Weiner spoke at length about intricacies of the grant process. (To hear his presentation, go to https://goochlandva.new.swagit.com/videos/128644 beginning around the one-hour mark). Navigating the many requirements of differing grant opportunities is complicated. The scope of this grant application changed in response to shifting criteria. The initial grant included properties in Oilville up to the Hanover line. When the scope of the VATI grant changed, some of those properties were removed, but are included in the Firefly project.

The project at hand will bring high speed internet to Cardwell Road, Taylor Road, Covington, Genito Road, part of Shallow Well Road, and all of Strawberry Run. This will require installation of 99,901 feet (18.92 miles) of backbone fiber and 68,000 feet (12.95 miles) of new drops. This will result in a minimum of 228 new passings including connection of ten home-based businesses. The total cost of the project is $915,265.39—$567,557.98 from the state; $100,000 from Goochland County; and $247,707.40 from Port 80 Internet Services.

State money will be the last used, explained Drumwright. This will ensure that work is completed according to related contracts. Work must be completed within 18 months after the contracts are signed, which Drumwright expects this to occur in the near future.

Weiner said that homes along the route of this project, though not necessarily in the scope of the grant, will be connected. Visit the Port 80 website port80.us to find out if you ae included in this project.

Stay tuned for more news about broadband expansion.