Enabling remote learning, working<\/p>\n
Besides offering better service for residents, the new fiber network will be a welcome benefit for local anchor institutions.<\/p>\n
Astound and its partners will also prioritize bringing fiber to fire houses, schools, libraries, medical clinics, and other key anchor institutions in the county. “This network will significantly enhance the level of connectivity options for schools and other local anchor institutions,\u201d Sonne said.<\/p>\n
Healthcare clinics offering telemedicine\u2014especially those in geographically isolated zones\u2014will operate with greater efficiency and reach. Since travel times to Port Angeles or Sequim can exceed an hour, a stable connection eliminates that barrier, allowing for residents to conduct remote telehealth sessions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Libraries and schools will also be able to leverage the fiber network to\u00a0support more digital services. Schools can also expand their online learning capabilities, providing students with uninterrupted remote access to educational resources.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur rural area does have several businesses and anchor institutions, such as the schools and healthcare institutions,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n
He added that the presence of Astound’s fiber broadband service will also make Clallam County a potentially attractive destination for remote workers who require broadband connectivity. \u201cA lot of people are working remotely nowadays, so we see this being a benefit to our rural residents,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n
With this new fiber infrastructure in place, Sonne agreed it will provide those remote opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemote school and work might be risky now if you want to live in that area,\u201d Sonne said. \u201cOnce we have the infrastructure in place, it becomes more and more feasible, so it\u2019s a boost to a community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having conducted similar projects in areas such as Tillamook, Oregon, and Pierce County, Washington, Astound has extensive experience serving remote rural areas.<\/p>\n
Sonne said the common denominator in all these areas is a desire to get fiber-based broadband.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we’ve found when we build in remote areas like Clallam County, there\u2019s a certain percentage of the residents that are starving for this level of broadband,\u201d he said. They will subscribe as fast as they can, while others will take time to learn about what\u2019s available and why it\u2019s more robust and explore a change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another effect is that it will make the area more attractive to existing and potential new businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will do a lot for economic development,\u201d Sonne said. \u201cIf the county is looking to expand economic development in this area, this takes away one of the major barriers to that by ensuring that you have top-of-the-line broadband infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Enabling remote learning, working Besides offering better service for residents, the new fiber network will be a welcome…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[174,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-10494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-internet","9":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}