Residents in Otto and Scaly Mountain now have access to free WiFi at their community centers.
“This is something we’ve been working on for a while,” said Jeff Lee, president/CEO of Little T Broadband.
Little T Broadband partnered with Balsam West on the project to extend fiber from the south end of the city limits down Highway 441 through Otto and connect to Haywood EMC to make the connection to Scaly Mountain then to Highlands.
As part of the project, Balsam West agreed to supply internet at the community centers in Otto, Scaly Mountain and at the Sky Valley-Scaly Mountain Fire Department. (Otto Fire and Rescue is at the same location as the community center.)
Lee said the pandemic, material shortages, and “one thing after another,” delayed the project, but now the public WiFi spots are live and available for people to use.
Little T Broadband got a $20,000 grant from the Southwestern Regional Commission to buy commercial hot spot equipment. They worked with Wired Inc. in Franklin to install the equipment at the three locations. He said the initial plan was to provide service at the community centers, but they are expanding it to also include the two fire departments.
When they first started talking about the project, Lee said one of the primary objectives was to ease the burden on families with school-age children who were having difficulty connecting to the internet to complete homework assignments. In addition to that, now they are talking about providing other services such as tutoring sessions, after-school programs, health clinics and telemedicine.
“We’re super excited,” Lee said.
Right now, people can connect to the WiFi hot spots in the parking lots, but the community centers are still working on plans to possibly have “office hours” where people can reserve times to work inside. However, the organizations are volunteer run, so it will depend on the availability of people to help.
“This opens it up so anybody can have fast speed internet that needs it,” said Bill Kirkland of the Scaly Mountain Community Association. He said people had told him they were driving to Highlands everyday so they could get internet connection to do their work or Zoom calls. “Now they won’t have to do that.”
He said they are considering a reservation system where people would get a code to access the building. “It’s still a little early, but we are thinking about different options,” he said. “We’re really, really happy. It’s been really nice to have Macon County and Balsam West’s support to get this going.”
The Scaly Mountain hot spot is available throughout the day beginning at 6:30 a.m. The Otto WiFi hot spot is available from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Kirkland and Lee were glad to hear about the GREAT grant that would help get more people connected to high-speed internet. “Getting it to the homes is the next focus,” Kirkland said.
Business connections
“Now there is fiber in unserved areas of Macon County, which is often the most difficult part of getting access,” said Ryan Sherby, Balsam West CEO.
Sherby said building the fiber backbone is often the most expensive part of expanding internet connectivity to the far reaches of the county. He said that critical first step will now allow the company to begin serving businesses in close proximity to the main line.
The company will launch its small business connect fund within the coming weeks. As part of the program, Balsam West will waive any upfront charges to build to businesses within a certain footage of the fiber route. Fiber costs can be prohibitive for small businesses, making it nearly impossible to afford upfront fiber installation and build costs. Sherby said by eliminating those costs, local businesses can receive the same high quality fiber internet services that the region’s major institutions and businesses enjoy.
“Our owners are committed to the small businesses, residents, and governments of Macon County and WNC,” Sherby said. “This multi-faceted partnership is a testament to the strong collaborative of local companies, non-profits and governments who have been investing in Macon County and WNC for decades. We look forward to serving small businesses by offering an extremely reliable network supported by local dedicated staff.”
Sherby said businesses along the US 441 south corridor will receive priority, but other businesses may also be eligible for the offer.
To learn more about the company’s business connect fund, contact BalsamWest:
Email at sales@balsamwest.net
Live chat on website at balsamwest.net
Call 828-339-2999