EDISTO ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) – More than 1,000 homes and businesses on Edisto Island will soon have access to upgraded and high-speed internet thanks to a federal program.
Right now, internet experts with AT&T explain that people are hooked up to an older and slower version of access compared to the new and improved fiber optic cables that have been installed across most of the county.
James Byrd is the South Carolina AT&T Regional Director for External and Governmental Affairs.
“This gives residents in places like here on Edisto Island the opportunity to tap into that type of technology, you know, to give them the opportunity to build a website faster, look for a job online, just tap into those economic opportunities that they can use with high-access Fiber Internet,” Byrd says.
That’s why federal rural infrastructure funding, handed out by the state, is paying AT&T to lay miles of Fiber Internet so Edisto customers have access to opt in to higher speed services.
Charleston County Council District 8 Representative Joe Boykin represents mainly rural Charleston County and is from Edisto Island.
“When we had COVID not too long ago, they had to try to bring out portable transmission units to get internet access to our children who couldn’t attend school. That really identified just how serious the problem was with broadband access,” Boykin says.
He says it makes sense for the federal funding allocated by the state to be used to extend this service.
“I am so thrilled and grateful to AT&T and all of their hard work, and the state of South Carolina securing the funding for this. Most of my district on the county council is rural, so this has just been a needed, needed improvement for the good folks that live out here,” Boykin says.
To decide where to lay the lines, the county did a survey and had people submit their address and the kind of service they had and wanted before laying upgraded fiber. Boykin says it worked well, and they plan to use that system again in the future to keep reaching people about the internet to see who wants and needs it.
“So these are customers that actually have slower internet, not fiber access. So we’re really happy to expand this type of technology to rural areas,” Byrd says.
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