Wireless Internet Network Developement (WIND)

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

While Sherman County Oregon is a highly rural County with less than 1800 residents, we feed millions with our wheat and power hundreds of thousands of homes with our wind farms. While our value to others is great, our Court felt that we were suffering from a lack of quality Broadband availability for all our citizens. We knew we did not want to become and ISP, but we also could not attract and ISP to build a network to serve such a low population and find a profit. We chose to create a "Best Effort" Wireless Internet Network Development by leveraging our existing 911 tower system and use a low cost product solution. The result was a system that covered 900 square miles at an initial cost of $40,000.00. We invited ISP's to use the network and pay the County $6.00 a month per subscriber in order to over the continuing costs. We now have an ISP that serves 13% of the County (mostly those who had little or no service before). We also sell the transport to the ISP and it pays for the cost of transport that was borne by the 911 system. It has also led to the County discovering a partner to bring fiber through our area and reducing the original cost from 4-6 million to 1.4 million. The state of Oregon is pledging 1 million dollars towards the project since we were able to create such a valuable project for a fraction of the cost. This system has been highlighted by NACO News and Resilient Counties publications and as the Commissioner that led the effort for this project; I’ve had the privilege to speak on panels at both the NACO New Orleans and Legislative Conferences in the last year. Regards, Mike Smith Sherman County Commissioner