The Mathews County Broadband Advisory Board announced Tuesday that the county has been awarded two federal CARES Act grants totaling more than $200,000 to fund broadband projects.
Smart poles
One grant, totaling $197,144, will fund the installation of eight Clearworld smart poles in Wi-Fi dead spots around the county. Each solar-powered pole, at a cost of $24,643, will be equipped with a Cradlepoint access point to create a Wi-Fi network extending approximately 1,000 feet from the pole. The poles will also be lighted.
This will enable residents to drive to the parking lot where a pole is located and access the internet free of charge for educational and tele-health purposes. The poles will also provide internet access to homes within their coverage area.
Each smart pole will be able to connect at speeds up to 300 Mbps with 15 or more users at a time. Included in the grant was funding to provide unlimited data and customer support for each pole for one year and a remote monitoring system. Delivery and installation costs and one year of maintenance fees are covered, as well.
Poles will be located at Antioch Baptist Church at Susan, Bethel United Methodist Church on Garden Creek Road, West Mathews Community Center in Bohannon, Mathews Park and Ride lots on John Clayton Memorial Highway at North and Buckley Hall Road at Cobbs Creek, a private lot on Providence Road in Mobjack, the Piankatank Ruritan Club on Buckley Hall Road at Hudgins, and St. Matthew United Methodist Church on Potato Neck Road in Peary.
The terms of the grant require that the poles be installed and operational by mid- to late December.
Library hotspots
The other grant will fund the purchase of 25 Verizon Jetpack Mi-Fi hotspots and 25 Parsec antennas to provide unlimited 4G mobile broadband to library patrons who check the units out, similar to checking out a book, for up to 21 days at a time.
The units will enable students to do homework, employees to tele-work, and those with health issues to participate in tele-health sessions.
The total cost of all 25 units is $15,696.75.
Future use
When the pandemic has been brought under control and children can return to school and people can have unfettered access to health care providers, the smart poles will still be standing. Mathews County Broadband Advisory Board chairman Judy Rowe and broadband consultant Jeff Beekhoo of Norfolk-based Broadband Telecom have pointed out that the smart poles can then be used as repeaters to boost broadband signals throughout the county. If necessary, the poles can be relocated to serve additional purposes, as well, including being equipped with flood monitors in low-lying areas of the county.
Rowe expressed delight with the award during a telephone conversation on Monday.
“I’m just so thankful for the citizens who stepped up,” she said of the property owners who are allowing the smart poles to be installed on their property.
Rowe said it’s good to finally see progress on an issue she’s been advocating for over the past 20 years. She said that, in this age of advanced technology, too many people in rural areas, especially school children, are being left behind.
When she was asked to head the advisory board, Rowe asked the Mathews County Board of Supervisors to commit to bringing broadband to every last home in Mathews County. They agreed, and she has been tirelessly pursuing that goal ever since. She gives credit to members of the board who have expertise in various areas and who have come together on the board to lead the way.
“It’s an incredible group of people,” said Rowe. “It’s a brain trust.”