The project will make online activities easier for residents and business owners in the north Key Peninsula area after years of difficulty connecting.
Terry Davis is senior director of government affairs for Comcast Pacific Northwest Region. Davis said that homes and businesses that will be served by the project generally have slow DSL or wireless internet options that make streaming video or audio difficult. They might also be limited in their ability to use Zoom or Microsoft Teams to do work or school from home.
The county has partnered with Comcast to expand high-speed internet services to over 500 homes and businesses in north Key Peninsula, according to a news release. The partnership is part of the county's effort to address service gaps identified in a countywide evaluation in 2019.
The news release earlier this month said that crews have started construction and will be working Monday to Thursday from 6:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Construction is expected to continue until 2025, but some Key Peninsula homes and businesses might gain access to Comcast services as early as later this year, according to the news release.
The construction will occur between 144th Street Northwest and Hall Road Northwest and between 188th Avenue Northwest and Wright Bliss Road Northwest.
Comcast will share marketing materials with homes and businesses as access becomes available to them, including through sales agents directly knocking on doors, according to Davis. Residents will also be able to call the company's toll-free number or visit the Xfinity website to order services.
Davis said Comcast will be making its Xfinity services available to residents besides broadband. That includes TV service, home security system, home phone and mobile service.
Diane Higgins is the owner of Serenity Cottage, a property in Gig Harbor about a four-minute drive from one of the construction sites. Higgins said she has experienced many problems with internet connectivity at the property, which she began renting to lodgers about 3-4 years ago.
"It disconnects completely," Higgins said. "All kinds of problems."
Higgins said that the issues have affected lodgers who tried to work from the cottage.
Greg Bilderback lives in the same area and said he hasn't been able to stream video or play Xbox games in his home while paying full-price for high-speed Internet from CenturyLink.
"I've been paying my bill for 20 years for a service I only get one-third of," Bilderback said.
Bilderback owns a small music-production company and record label called DubSeven Records, which he said he pours all of his resources into when he's not working at his day job in construction for Puget Sound Energy. He said the slow internet connection at home forced him to take his laptop into a downtown area such as Gig Harbor or Tacoma and use the internet at a Starbucks to do things like upload music videos to YouTube or transfer audio files to music distributors. With such massive, high-quality files, he would have to wait for hours if he wanted to use his home internet connection to load them online.
Bilderback got off the waiting list about a year and a half ago for Starlink, a high-speed internet service that allowed him to stop using CenturyLink, which he said used to be the only option in his area. Now that he can access online video games and stream video, he said he finally feels like he can live the way other people do.
"It's quite a relief," Bilderback said.
Comcast participated in Pierce County's competitive Request for Proposal process earlier this year. It invited companies to submit proposals to expand broadband service in any of the following areas: Nisqually Region, Key Peninsula North, Puyallup/White River Region, Alder Lake Region and Key Peninsula South. These "Broadband Incentive Districts" were identified as having a particular need for service.
Part of the $5 million project will be funded by federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money, with $3.75 million allocated for the purpose by the Pierce County Council in its 2024-2025 biennial budget, according to the news release and county website.
According to Pierce County public information specialist Jenny Burger, the county's efforts to expand internet access align with the state's goals to do so across Washington state.
© 2024 The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
