FAIRMONT — The Martin County Broadband Steering Committee met in Fairmont this week to receive an update on both a countywide broadband project as well as a BevComm project.

Both projects are meant to increase and provide broadband infrastructure to underserved and rural areas.

Jim Beattie, director of government relations for BevComm, was up first to share Bevcomm’s progress.

“Last September, BevComm applied for a grant for the southeastern portion of our service area,” he said. “We were successful in receiving that grant. Total project costs were just a shade under $395,000, of which the grant portion was almost $158,000, with BevComm contributing the remaining amount.

“We are well on our way to completing that project; fiber is in the ground, all the splicing has been done, and all the fiber is up to the customer premise. All we’re waiting for now is the customer premise electronics and we hope to begin installation of those starting in November of this year.”

Beattie noted that BevComm recently applied for six more Border to Border Broadband Grant projects, noting that this time the focus will be on the northwest corner of its service area.

“It’ll be the exact same stuff we’re doing in our current project, and by the time we’re done, every resident in that area will be capable of receiving 1 gigabyte of internet service,” he said. “It’s a fiber pipe directly to their house.”

When asked about the price point for the 1 GB service, Beattie replied it would be $129.

Other questions arose concerning which geographical areas were chosen for upgrades, and Beattie noted that it was a matter of just picking an area.

“Our company is unique because we have service areas in Granada, in Faribault County, several areas in Wisconsin, and we have a limited budget,” he said. “If we are successful in our 2018 grant, the entire most remote areas of the Granada exchange will be serviced.”

Beattie said BevComm has received several calls from customers in the Granada area looking forward to the service, asking how soon it will be available.

The committee also heard from Scott Bohler of Frontier Communications. Frontier is the provider that covers the most territory in the county, and has been vocal about wanting to partner with the county in order to pursue grant dollars in the past.

“Our project is big, reaching about 2,100-plus households, with speeds of 25 megabytes downloading speed and 3 megabytes uploading,” he said. “I will say the folks who fall outside those areas will see benefits as well, seeing improved speeds up to 10 megabytes or so.

“We finalized all the paperwork in March, and started construction with the fiber optic placement about a week and a half ago. We started in Northrop and it will spread across the rest of the county as the year continues. We’ve got about 80 miles of fiber that we’ve got to place to get to all of the locations.”

Bohler said that while part of the service expansion will provide fiber straight to the home for some, others will get DSL service. Areas that will be affected by Frontier’s project include: rural areas in and around Fairmont, Fox Lake, East Chain, Northrop, Ormsby, Sherburn, Truman, Perch Lake, Ceylon and Trimont.

Truman City Clerk Monte Rohman voiced some concern over some new Truman residents being unable to get internet service through Frontier due to limited capacity, and he asked Bohler how the project will help.

Bohler said he assumed the project will increase the capacity, noting that if the demand for housing goes up in an area, then internet service facilities would need to upgrade accordingly.

Committee member Jean Burkhardt also presented Bohler with a question regarding all Frontier customers.

“I know that you have CALF funding to upgrade all current Frontier customers up to 10 MB speeds and there are rural residents who are not a part of this 25 MB buildup, so what’s the time frame for those folks living in the country who are still dealing with dial-up?” she asked.

“That CALF Connect America program is an FCC program that runs through 2020, and what that does is provides funding, not everywhere, but in certain census blocks,” Bohler replied. “You’re right that a good chunk of Martin County is in that eligible area, and we will be addressing those households in the next three years.”

Billeye Rabbe asked Bohler why a gap of service exists between Fairmont and Northrop, stating she is unable to get enough internet speed to successfully watch a movie. Bohler again pointed out that areas outside the 25 MB buildup range will see improvements. Rabbe said she understands, but doesn’t feel she is getting what she pays for now, having to turn her internet off and on three to four times just to do work, let alone consume entertainment.

“This is a big problem with customers,” Bohler replied. “We try to be clear that we offer speeds up to a certain amount, but we don’t guarantee it. We can’t because there’s a lot of variables. I’m not clear, that may be something particular to your line.”

County Coordinator Scott Higgins voiced some concerns about why such problems can’t be fixed, stating he lives in town and also has experienced having to turn his internet service off and on. Higgins noted he alerted technicians there was a problem earlier in the year from Lewisville to Truman and Fairmont.

He stated that while equipment was available, there was nobody to make the necessary installations.

Others in the room also voiced concerns about poor-quality service.

“What you’re hearing is already existing customers, both businesses and rural, for which the customer service feature of Frontier has gone down; which leads us to wonder how in the world you are going to manage your customers for broadband, which is far more complicated than landlines, when you are not able to provide good service now,” Higgins said.

“That broadband experience is a lot broader, and there’s a lot more components than just how fast the speed can get to my house,” Bohler replied. “There’s maintenance, there’s repairs, and all that stuff that goes into it.”

Fairmont economic development coordinator Linsey Preuss also noted this is a major concern for people.

“I wouldn’t move to Truman for that reason; I’m not going to go somewhere I don’t have internet, and businesses aren’t either,” she said. “We really need to make sure that we’re taking care of this issue; we have to figure it out and it’s not an option.”

“To be honest, if the cost to get to a customer is $2,000 to build it’s going to be tough for any business to say, “This is a wise use of my money,'” Bohler replied.

Beattie noted the issue is really an economic development one, and said that in future talks with state Rep. Bob Gunther and state Sen. Julie Rosen, he is going to ask them to get funding for such things through the state budget.

“Again, there’s a lot of forces out there on both sides of the issue, but that’s going to be my focus,” he said.

Beattie also noted there are those in more densely populated areas who see rural broadband as a waste of time and resources.