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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May 01, 2024 SCC Meeting: Broadband Committee Report: Roger reported that the Washington State Broadband Office is busy challenging the speed test data on the Federal maps, and has no additional updates.  Jenn reported that Dawn Stover sent out an alert that CenturyLink, currently the sole landline and internet provider for many residents in the Snowden area, is currently seeking to get approval to become the more relaxed status of “market provider”. This status would enable CenturyLink to drop customers, and/or raise their rates at will.  This is a very serious threat to all their rural customers.  There will be a public zoom hearing on CenturyLink’s request held before The Washington State Utilities and Transportation Board on May 16.  You must sign up by May 15 to attend the hearing. All written comments must be received by May 15. (This information is presented in very small print on our latest CenturyLink bill.) It is of utmost importance to get the word out about this threat to our communities’ safety and well-being.  More information about this matter, and instructions on how to submit comments and how to participate in the hearing will be posted on the SCC website and Facebook page.

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April 03, 2024 SCC Meeting: Guest Speaker: Keaton Curtice, Klickitat County Economic Development Specialist. Keaton began his presentation by announcing that Jenne Patterson’s Broadband Newsletter is now active online; and that Jenne is the County’s “real broadband expert”. The County expects to “kick off broadband service” in 2025.  The County is coordinating State broadband funds with the ISPs bidding to provide expanded broadband service.  However, Keaton explained that the larger ISP’s, who rate highly as contenders for grant money because of the long-standing scale and capacity at which they operate, are reluctant to bid to provide “open access” internet, as required by the State grants. Open access means the ISP that builds the infrastructure (with public funding) would be required to allow other providers to lease their infrastructure. This would prevent monopolies and allow residents to choose the ISP that best suits them.  A small, local start-up is Klicknetworks, based near Klickitat.  They have an arrangement to build an internet hub in Trout Lake, which will give them a chance to prove their capability, and hopefully inspire more confidence in the State Broadband Office.  In the group’s discussion, there was general agreement from the community at the meeting, that large ISPs have received public funding in the past to provide quality internet access to Snowden residents, and they have repeatedly built something that provides little or no improvement to residents, then sell the new service to another company. The larger companies have repeatedly shown no interest in improving rural, difficult to serve residents, and appear to be only interested in making  money. Further, as Klicknetworks’ owners and operators have visited the Snowden Community Council, many people at this meeting shared confidence in Klicknet to be adaptable to Snowden’s rugged terrain and committed to improving or providing internet service at State and Federal broadband standards. Keaton said we can write letters of support for Klicknetworks to the BoCC; but we all must wait for Klicknetworks to prove themselves in Trout Lake.

Broadband Committee Report: Roger said that Keaton Curtice’s presentation pretty well summed up where we currently stand in our efforts to get State-standard broadband to Snowden, and all of Klickitat County.  Ideas to support Klicknetwork in attracting government funding (assuming they are successful in Trout Lake) included getting a petition before the BoCC, and having talking points and a support letter template on our website to encourage individuals to write their own letter of support.

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March 06, 2024 SCC Meeting: Broadband Committee Report: 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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(02/07/2024 SCC Meeting) Congratulation Snowden! Your participation in speed tests and surveys paid off!

Broadband Committee Report: 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 SCC Meeting) Broadband Committee Report: 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)