In the Press…
Three good articles came out this week on the Rock Island movement. One of them was about the state of Net Neutrality and how a co-op is well suited to protect the rights of its Internet users. The other two were about Victoria Compton’s (of the San Juan County Economic Development Council) visit to the Washington State Senate committees on Local Government and Economic Development in Olympia. They are fantastic and worth the read:
San Juan County’s broadband option sets state example
http://www.sanjuanjournal.com/news/san-juan-countys-broadband-option-sets-state-example/
San Juan County broadband accomplishments acknowledged
http://www.sanjuanjournal.com/opinion/san-juan-county-broadband-accomplishments-acknowledged-guest-column/
Equitable internet access for all Americans | Reporter’s Notebook
http://www.sanjuanjournal.com/opinion/equitable-internet-access-for-all-americans-reporters-notebook/
In almost three years, we’ve on-boarded over 3.500 subscribers – their families and co-workers – onto faster and more reliable Internet. We’re already seeing the economic benefits that true broadband has made in our community. On our five-year plan, we’re tracking toward profitability and long-term financial stability. We’re on the road to success, and heading toward connecting thousands of homes and businesses to our fiber network.
As we stop to celebrate the end of a very good year, we recognize that none of this would be possible without the support of our co-op membership, and the good people at OPALCO. THANK YOU and happy holidays – Here’s to a fantastic 2018!
Net Neutrality – Our Stance
Last week critical Net Neutrality laws were repealed. When the current regulations role back, companies will legally be able to give higher connection speeds to preferred websites or completely block content that differs from their political, social or business views. Scary times indeed.
We at Rock island want you to know that WE WILL NOT edit, throttle or favor any kind of content on our network. We believe the delivery of Internet content should be fair and equal, and we will protect that freedom with all our might.
We ourselves have taken measures to ensure that we don’t fall into the pockets of an upstream provider. For example, we have redundant paths to the Internet on the mainland, we’re peering with multiple content partners and have multiple upstream providers to both Bellingham and Seattle to ensure we don’t suffer a similar fate. You can count on us to keep the San Juan Islands Net Neutral.
7-Day Tech Support
You wanted it – you got it. We are proud to announce that our Tech Support department is now staffed 7-days a week to help you with your technical needs. That’s right, if you get a strange Internet problem right before the big game on Saturday, just give us a call and we’ll be happy to help you out. Our support hours are:
Monday – Friday: 9am to 5pm
Saturday – Sunday: 10am to 5pm
There’s no reason to wait until Monday morning now. Just call our main number and press Option 1 when you need support. We’ll be happy to lend you a hand with your Rock Island Internet service. You can reach us at 378-5884, then press Option 1.
Wifi Not Performing?
We can fix that.
You may have watched our video on how Mesh Networks can improve your home Wi-Fi. This amazing new technology makes receiving Wi-Fi signal in all those hard-to-reach places a breeze. There are several after-market solutions on the market today that cost between $300-$500. We have reviewed them all and have tested them to their limits. What we found is that none of them perform as good as the commercially-available AirTies.
As a result, we will be offering this product as an add-on service to any Fiber or LTE Fixed Wireless Internet subscription starting in January! For just $10 a month, you can have two AirTies access points in your home. What’s better is that Rock Island will fully-support this product, and we will make sure your Wi-Fi woes become a thing of the past.
Stay tuned for more on AirTies. We are VERY excited about rolling this product out to our customers. A large portion of our Tech Support calls stem from some sort of wireless issue, and installing a few of these in your home could make your fast Internet connection more usable in more places.
That wraps up one more edition of our Monthly Fiber Update. Thank you for your ongoing support; we couldn’t do this without each and every one of you!
All our best,
The Rock Island Team