The Mathews Broadband Advisory Board, meeting on Tuesday, June 13, discussed the delay in people being connected to broadband through a recently-completed project that was funded with a Virginia Telecommunications Initiative grant.
Open Broadband, a North Carolina-based internet service provider, worked in conjunction with the Mathews board and with Gloucester’s broadband committee to develop the project in 2021 and to obtain a VATI grant to fund it. The project consisted of outfitting towers with antennas, receivers, and other new technology to provide fixed wireless service to 180 customers in Mathews and 130 customers in Gloucester.
One problem is that the Nokia equipment being used isn’t working correctly, said MBAB chair Judy Rowe. She said that only 15 people have been connected thus far out of the 180 that Open Broadband said it would be able to connect once the equipment was installed. She said that, while the Nokia equipment might be a problem for non-line-of-sight customers, ...