undefined | Better HN

0 pointsLoughla1y ago0 comments

So I know part of the money was through the state. It was matching funds for federal dollars. I think it was through rural development, which is closed, but I'm not absolutely sure. I'll check with my neighbor (works for ISP) tomorrow to see if he knows.

To be honest, we approached the ISP, who was offering fiber in a town 45 minutes away. They said if we could get sign ups at least every half mile, on average, they would make it happen. We had the signatures when they got the grant, so it was sort of a wasted effort on our part.

I'll message here tomorrow if I figure it out though.

0 comments

jhenkens1y ago

Thanks! Yeah, we have a local ISP that has laid fiber in other communities where they could get grants (namely native communities), but they are only doing WISP in our community right now, and it won't service about half the homes here.

LoughlaOP1y ago

I confirmed that the majority of the funding was through federal rural development grants that aren't open anymore. Sorry about that! Now it's just low interest loans that are available to isp's.

What state are you in? There are quite a number of state grants, depending on where you are.

For real though. Talk to one of their planners and see if they have a number of necessary sign-ups. We did a signature campaign and had what we needed before the grant existed. They had committed to our stretch of fiber before they had the grant, we just had to all sign contacts for services. It took a year or so of knocking on doors. And that was to run the line about 40 miles.