Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Rural Internet, One Tower at a Time

We have suffered at give-or-take 70 percent of capacity on Frontier's DSL line for a while now, so when Chuck Bartosch of Clarity Connect started looking into a grant for new broadband access in Dryden, we were all ears.

Tomorrow night is the Zoning Board of Appeals hearing for the new tower that is supposed to go in on our property--back toward Yellow Barn, off our logging road, where we can't see it from the house, and we believe no one else can see it from either road, either. Broadband towers aren't as tall as cell towers. Paul chose a dull gray for the color--there were choices, but green seemed too visible, especially at this time of year!

For our pains, we'll get free service--no rent or other perks other than the right to mount a windmill on the tower if we so desire--and Dryden, once all seven or so towers are connected, will presumably get faster, cheaper Internet connectivity. Nevertheless, we expect to see some concerned neighbors at the ZBA hearing.

It seems a bit strange, after we worked so hard and paid so much to bury all electric and phone lines for the new house, but until they figure out how to do everything wirelessly from satellites, we're stuck with towers. At least we can do a reasonable job of hiding this one.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Build in a red-tailed hawk nest platform.