INTERNET SERVICES TO SIERRACITY AND OUTLYING REGIONS was discussed at the Sierra County Board of Supervisors’ meeting on March 20th in Loyalton. Supervisor Peter Huebner said there was a business in Sierra City with a new owner who cannot get AT&T to help him or get the internet reconnected, adding without the internet he cannot have the business. Huebner said it’s not just this business, it’s a problem for the whole west side. Huebner asked Supervisor Lee Adams to give a report from what he learned in Washington D.C. Adams said Sierra County remains the highest underserved broadband in the state. He stated RCRC met with federal communications staff, adding he didn’t hold out getting a ton of help from the FCC. He said AT&T has a program called First Net, which is an Office of Emergency Services (OES) program that could bring service to these areas, but is mostly based on numbers and costs. Adams felt AT&T was pushing communications back to the 1920s and thought a letter to the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) explaining these issues would be helpful. He added it was shocking and frustrating that basic services are not being met. Sierra County Planning Director, Tim Beals felt they needed to go to Sacramento to be heard. From the audience, Bryan Davey gave a little more background on First Net. He said it is a nationwide OES network similar to a cellular system and emergency services would have access to it first, but that bandwith would be available during non- emergency times. Davey said Verizon is also building a similar service. He said Sierra County OES Coordinator, Lee Brown has been proactive to get this into Sierra County, but AT&T is very secretive about their roll out plan. Davey said he knows Sierra County is on the list to have two sites installed but doesn’t know where. Davey said in Sierra City there is a large fiber line that goes through. He said Digital Path originally came in and needed a core number of users, but thenAT&T came and started offering DSL and undercut the price, so Digital Path pulled out. Davey stated since then AT&T has not upgraded and has stopped DSL service. Beals added it makes it impossible for home-based businesses to survive in Sierra City. The Board voted to draft a letter, which passed unanimously.
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