Pyrmont residents push for broadband internet access

Residents of Pyrmont are advocating for broadband internet in their community.

Residents of pyrmont are advocating for broadband internet in their community.

One family says working and learning from home during the pandemic is straining their network.

News 18's joe paul visited several rural communities today.

He joins us in the studio to tell us why their internet options are few and far between.

Joe?

Sherry cole tells me she's tried five, six even seven different internet providers.

But none of them seem to do the trick.

She even had to take her kids to work last week.

So they could complete their online school assignments.

"do a lot of watching and a lot of just waiting."

Pyrmont resident sherry cole has tried all of her internet options.

But none seem to be fast or reliable enough.

"we've obviously lived out here for 15 years and have never seen any compensation or any improvement.

If anything, it's kind of gotten worse, i think."

Governor eric holcomb is expanding broadband internet to indiana's rural areas.

The cole family recently sent a letter to holcomb pushing for broadband in their community.

"people don't understand how bad it is when you live in the rural community.

I think they think because we're 2020 that everyone has fast internet."

Cole's children attend rossville schools.

Which transitioned to e-learning last week.

Superintendent james hanna says some students tailgated in the parking lot just to use the internet.

"rossville is kind of an island that has internet, where some of our surrounding communities do not have very good broadband connection."

The nearest internet service provider is mulberry telecommunications.

Ceo randy maish says the company is adding fiber optic cables within its current territory.

"we hope to done in our ilec territory in the next two years and at that time, we'll look at expanding outside the territory and possibilities like pyrmont would come into play where we would look at them."

Maish says it's expensive to extend fiber to new communities.

Even with grants provided from the state.

"the biggest challenge is the cost.

We calculate it's roughly a little over 30 thousand dollars a mile to install it, and people don't realize the expense of it."

Indiana's next level connections broadband program is directed by the lieutenant governor's office.

The office provided a statement to news 18 saying the program matches investments from service providers to expand into unserved areas.

Jeff, back to you.

Like many non-profits, the y-w-c-a has been hit hard by the pandem.