Purpose

Work with local agencies and community councils to expand affordable “future-proof” broadband access for rural Klickitat County and the surrounding areas.

Latest Update:

NEW! Klickitat County Broadband Newsletter! Issue #1 of the newsletter can be found here: https://www.klickitatcounty.org/1260/Broadband. To subscribe to the email newsletter, send your request to BroadbandnewsKC@gmail.com.

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Broadband Committee Report March 06 2024 SCC Meeting: Roger said there wasn’t a lot to report, as there was no recent State’s Broadband Office monthly meeting available. He reviewed the good news that the State goal for Klickitat County is that high speed internet will be available to every household, for a monthly cost of around $50.  To achieve this, the state will create groupings of one thousand households, including both difficult and easy to serve sites. (Snowden will be divided into several different groups, as it is largely a “difficult to serve” area.)  ISPs will bid to provide service to these groups, prioritizing using fiber where possible but recognizing that the rugged terrain will require using hybrid technologies, such as using fixed wireless and creating hubs and repeaters. ISPs will be required to provide open access service, that is sharing their publicly funded infrastructure with other providers.  Discussion highlighted that the KC Public Utilities District is willing to let local ISP Klick-net lease their utility poles for installing internet infrastructure, though they are otherwise unwilling to help their clientele acquire high speed affordable internet service.  (25 of 28 Washington State PUDs DO support providing high speed internet to their citizenry.)

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UPDATE: (02/07/2024) Congratulation Snowden! Your participation in speed tests and surveys paid off!

Committee Chair Roger attended the State Broadband Office monthly zoom meeting in January.  He reported the good news that, because of the robust response of the citizens of Klickitat County to various speed tests and internet accessibility surveys, the Washington State Broadband Office received a total of $1.23 billion dollars; proportionally much more than many other states received. This sum adds 71,000 rural households to the previously designated 167,000 that are listed as unserved by State standards. (State standards include that internet service is “future -proof” as technology continues to become more powerful, and affordable.)

The State’s plan for applying this money to expanding broadband in underserved rural areas includes creating discrete districts of 1,000 households each, that include both easy and difficult to serve households, so that serving these areas will be fairly profitable to ISPs that serve them.  Roger saw maps that divided up Snowden (a difficult service area) to have part with Husum, part with White Salmon etc.  The State prefers to support fiber infrastructure, but recognizes that some difficult terrain and geology will require alternative methods.  The State Broadband policy requires that internet service will be provided affordably and expects customers to pay no more than $45-$50 a month.  Roger also reported that Cherry Lane Fire Station is designated as a Broadband Community Anchor Institution to receive gigabyte service.  (Yes, you could park in the Cherry Lane parking lot, and have robust internet connectivity. And – we will be able to have live/zoom SCC meetings there!)

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(01/03/2024 from Minutes, SCC Meeting) 

Broadband Committee: Roger assumed Committee Chairmanship after Jenne’s departure.  The Committee also includes Eric Wilson.  Charles Pluckhahn, who has a background in telecommunications, volunteered to be on the Committee also.  Roger stated he would be establishing communications with County Economic Development/Broad Band staff Keaton Curtice, with KlickNet, and the MCCED/KCBAT.

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Milestones

• Promoted importance of Klickitat County Broadband Feasibility Study
• Instrumental in the formation of the first Klickitat County Broadband Action Team (KC BAT)