Needs assessment will help set goals for improvements
Broadband services in Twisp — or the lack of them — will be examined in a study conducted by Partners for Rural Washington through an agreement with the Town of Twisp.
The study, expected to be completed by the end of the year, will evaluate the existing level of broadband Internet services and the need for increased capacity, said Mario Villanueva, executive director of Partners for Rural Washington (PRWA).
The need for improved broadband services in Washington’s rural communities became clear during a tour by PRWA of about 30 rural communities around the state last year, said Villanueva.
The term “broadband” generally refers to a high-speed Internet connection transmitted through wired or wireless networks.
“In talking with community leaders, broadband was really important to a majority of them,” Villanueva said. PRWA is responding to interest expressed by community leaders, including Twisp Mayor Soo Ing-Moody, in broadband planning, he said.
“Because we made it known we’re willing to work on broadband planning, Soo [Ing-Moody] stepped forward and said if we have funding, she wanted help,” Villanueva said.
Ing-Moody has been an advocate for improved communications in the valley, including cellular and Internet services, particularly in the wake of the 2014 Carlton Complex wildfire, which left local residents and emergency responders with virtually no communications capability for several days.
“After 2014, I really recognized all the things that didn’t work in our community,” she said. The PRWA study will serve as a “pilot study that can hopefully help other communities,” Ing-Moody said.
“Broadband should be viewed as a utility, not something that is desirable and available exclusively to people who can afford it,” the mayor said. “We need it for education, public safety, economics. We are so dependent on it, but it’s not treated like other utilities.”
Consulting services
PRWA will provide consulting services and technical assistance to Twisp through a Memorandum of Understanding approved by the Twisp Town Council at its Aug. 28 meeting. Villanueva said an invitation to participate in the study of local broadband services has also been extended to the Town of Winthrop and to Okanogan County, although they have not yet signed on.
PRWA is a statewide nonprofit organization that advocates for and works with rural communities on a wide range of community and economic development efforts to improve the quality of rural life, Villanueva said. The broadband consulting services will be provided at no cost to Twisp or other participating entities, according to the Memorandum of Understanding.
“On our board we have people who are broadband experts. We have in-house capacity,” Villanueva said.
Consultants for the broadband study will work toward several goals, according to the memorandum signed with Twisp. They include:
• Holding a meeting of local, county, state and tribal representatives to gather input on the perceived level of current broadband services in the Methow Valley and surrounding areas.
• Documenting community feedback on perceived broadband services and the need for increased capacity, and ensuring involvement of low-income residents and communities of color in the process.
• Working with public and private broadband service providers in the region to identify the extent and locations of existing services, and plans to increase capacity.
• Providing a written assessment of how to meet the broadband needs identified by public, private and business sources, and what technologies and delivery systems could be used to accomplish this.
• Providing a budget for development of methods and technologies that could help meet the need for broadband services
• Providing a report on available financing to improve broadband services.
Villanueva said one of the first steps in the study will be holding a meeting, scheduled for Oct. 10, to gather information from the community about the perceived level of broadband services. He said an online survey of local Internet users is also planned.
“What I’m hearing from folks is their Internet service is not good at all,” he said after visiting the Methow Valley in August to attend the Twisp Council meeting.
As an example, Villanueva said that while he was checking into a local hotel last month, the person at the desk was having trouble processing his registration because the hotel used wireless Internet service, and heavy smoke from wildfires appeared to be interfering with the signal.
Villanueva said he has met numerous times with the Okanogan County Public Utility District (PUD). “They are the main trunk for Internet service. They’ve shown me on maps that they have plenty of capacity,” he said.
The PUD provides “the backbone” for Internet service, but there may be problems in providing “the last mile” to connect to that backbone, Villanueva said.
“Connecting to a house, or a business, or a police station or a school is called ‘the last mile.’ In the Methow Valley it’s not that you don’t have it [broadband service], it’s how you get that last mile. What would it cost to do fiber, or microwave? It’s technical, but I don’t think you folks are far from solving that,” he said.
“There are a variety of ways people are getting Internet service in the Methow Valley, but it is the last mile piece that is missing,” Villanueva said.
After needs and solutions for broadband Internet services are identified, PRWA can assist Twisp with seeking funding to make improvements, Villanueva said. “We would arrange for financing through the state. The Community Economic Revitalization Board has resources,” he said. “If leaders wanted us to, we could apply for those funds to do deeper planning to build out infrastructure.”
Emergency communications
In addition to advocating for improvements in Internet service, Ing-Moody has also pushed for improvements in telecommunications for emergency responders. At her request, representatives of Verizon and FirstNet attended a Twisp Council meeting last month to discuss emergency communications.
FirstNet is a new statewide network that partners with AT&T to provide emergency communications to first responders. Shelley Westall said FirstNet is “looking at coverage gaps,” particularly in rural and tribal areas.
“There are pockets and black holes” in cell coverage in Twisp and the Methow Valley, Ing-Moody said. “How can we sign up if there is not coverage capability?”
Westall said FirstNet has prioritized building infrastructure to expand wireless communications, particularly in rural and tribal areas that are not likely to be served by commercial companies because they are unprofitable.
FirstNet, which has only been operating for about eight months, was created in response to a law passed by Congress in 2012 calling for a nationwide broadband network for emergency responders, Westall said.
The statewide network will expand coverage for commercial customers, but would provide “priority and preemption” to first responders, Westall said. “It allows for commercial service with the assurance that emergency communications get priority. When traffic on the network becomes huge [during an emergency], emergency responders have their own lane.”
The buildout of new systems in Washington “won’t be immediate, and I think that’s the hardest thing,” Westall said. “We’re going to have to be patient in many areas for wireless services for emergency communications.”
Verizon offers a crisis response team that can assist in emergencies by providing loaner phones and data devices, portable receiving and transmitting stations that provide temporary network and wireless coverage, charging stations and other services, said Scott Hendrick of Verizon.
However, that kind of service isn’t much help in remote areas like Twisp, where coverage is spotty or nonexistent, Ing-Moody said.
The Crescent Mountain Fire, still burning up the Twisp River drainage, provided an example of problems related to emergency communications, she said. Incident commanders contacted her soon after arriving in the valley in August to try to order mobile cellular towers to provide cell service for the upper Twisp River drainage “so that emergency responders could communicate with each other,” Ing-Moody said.
She had heard that Verizon offers to deploy mobile units, called “cells on wheels,” to boost cell coverage at no charge during emergencies. But after looking into it, incident commanders on the Crescent Mountain and McLeod fires were told the mobile units would cost $50,000, Ing-Moody said. “That’s not what they’ve been telling municipalities across the state,” she said. Incident commanders rejected that as too expensive.
Westall, who also looked into procuring the mobile cell units at Ing-Moody’s request, said the charge was related to the fact that the upper Twisp River drainage doesn’t get Verizon cell coverage, and the company would have to use satellites to provide service, at additional cost.
Ultimately, “Verizon did provide a temporary tower that would enable 40 cell phones. It wasn’t exactly what they needed,” Ing-Moody said.
