The pandemic has made it clear that internet access is a necessity for students. But in rural and mountainous areas, like Wise County, broadband at home is virtually unavailable. Now, as Robbie Harris reports, help is on the way – from space. The school district and the board of supervisors are partnering with SpaceX in a first of its kind project, to beam Internet to Wise in a whole new way.
“When the pandemic hit, Chief technology Officer for Wise County schools, Scott Kiser, had no more time to wait for cable companies to find it cost effective to bring broadband to his rural school division.
“So, we were looking for what we could do to service our students the fastest. And fortunately, we made some connections and got in touch with SpaceX and Starlink to get this solution in the works for our students.”
Starlink is working on a pilot project with Wise, beta testing a new kind of Internet, offering high-speed, low latency broadband that comes from low earth orbit satellites.
All students have to do is open the box and set it up when it arrives.
“The Wi-Fi modem will distribute that signal so that any device in that home can either be cabled in, or connect wirelessly, to that Internet option, just as if it was any other internet service.” Says Kiser.
So, from no Internet service to, “The opportunity to gain access to broadband that is potentially 150% the speed of the glass fiber we use today, simply because it doesn't have to make those twists and turns and run through a material it's coming straight through the air”.
That’s Clerk of the Court of Wise county and Space Buff, Jack Kennedy, a seventh generation Appalachian, he’s been working with county board of supervisors on ways to provide what every school kid needs now.
Because without internet, there can be no remote education, and broadband was just not coming to Wise any time soon.
“There is really no business case for a large telco cable company to run five miles up the holler to serve one house or, over a mountaintop to do another house. The economics is not there.”
Kennedy says SpaceX is working with Wise to create this model for internet from space to serve rural areas, not only for southwestern Virginia, but ultimately wherever it’s needed, anywhere in the world. For years, he’s been working with Virginia Senator Mark Warner, a long time a booster and participant in space related projects in Wise County.
Again, Scott Kiser, “So when Jack reached out to him and asked if this was something that he could get behind, he quickly jumped on board with us and worked hard to help us get these students served.”
Warner has been pushing for more funding for broadband. In a statement, he told Radio IQ that while he’s “working on the federal level to make that happen, he’s encouraged by the innovative approach Southwest Virginia is taking to expand internet access.”
“When the coal industry started drying up” says Kiser, “we lost a lot of our economy and we're looking to rebuild. You know, you can't rebuild, on technology jobs and especially those jobs in which folks can work from home when they don't even have broadband internet access available to their homes.”
People have to take their kids to nearby fast-food restaurants or other hot spots, so they could do classwork during the Pandemic, but that’s clearly not the solution.
“And the reality is we're living in it now and we have to have something now. And that's where this opportunity with Space X and their Starlink, low orbit, Internet offering is going to be a game changer for us because we couldn't wait years. We've got to have it now.”
With funding from the state Cares act and a state grant the project will initially provide free internet service to 45 families in Wise County, possibly as soon as February 1st and 90 more to follow.
After that, the sky’s the limit.