Progress Report #2

Map of free public Wi-Fi networks in West County, Sonoma County, CA

We are happy to announce that in November, we completed the last round of installations which included Monte Rio and Forestville.

In February, we will be doing the last phase of this project, which will be installing the Starlink dishes with solar and battery backup in each network.

Progress Report

I just wanted to give an update on our progress with the free public Wi-Fi project. As of June 23rd, 2023, we just completed a round of installations: Cazadero, Bodega, Bodega Bay, and an expansion in Guerneville with this pass. Still remaining are Monte Rio, Forestville and Jenner, which will be completed in September along with adding Starlink with solar and battery backup to all installations.

Our mission is to provide free equitable access to the Internet. The three tenants to achieve this are: education, disaster preparedness, and economic development.

By including Starlink in our network, when there is no power, no cellular coverage, and no ground based network, our network will still operate.

Free public Wi-Fi locations in Sonoma County with the number of access points, which determines area of coverage.

In September, we will be installing 3 more rural unincorporated communities: Monte Rio, Jenner, and Forestville (the blue areas).

Guerneville

Cazadero

Cazadero Firehouse

Bodega

Bodega Firehouse

Bodega Bay

Bodega Bay Union Church

Fifes Creek Commons - Guerneville

Johnsons Beach - Guerneville

What is Direct Internet Access?

Dedicated internet access establishes a private internet connection between an internet service provider (ISP) and a company’s premises. It eliminates the need to share resources with other users. That, in turn, results in improved speed and reliability.

The best part is that the performance of a DIA connection is governed by robust service level agreements (SLAs). This ensures that businesses get the speed and bandwidth exactly as advertised. For instance, DIA helps increase the speed of fixed wireless internet to nearly 20 Gbps.

Benefits of DIA

The enhanced performance of DIA comes at a higher price point. That’s why many business owners contemplate whether it’s worth the investment. The good news is that the benefits of dedicated internet access outweigh its cons.

Guaranteed Symmetry

With DIA, users get symmetrical upload and download speeds. This makes it ideal for businesses that rely on audio and video conferencing for day-to-day operations. DIA also eliminates concern about a sudden decline in speed during peak hours, ensuring uninterrupted file sharing among different teams.

Excellent Tech Support

A DIA connection comes with extensive SLAs and most providers offer the support of an account management team. This means users get access to high-quality customer service in case of any technical glitches or disruptions.

Cost-Effectiveness

While shared internet access is less expensive, it comes with various hidden costs. The high latency and unreliability of a shared connection compel users to choose a plan that offers better bandwidth and speeds – but this often results in paying for a ton of unused bandwidth.

On the other hand, a DIA connection offers the right bandwidth and speed to fit the needs of your customers. That makes it more cost-effective in the long run despite the hefty upfront investment.

New FCC Map - file under failure…

The FCC has released a new National Broadband Map with the promise that it would shine a light on unserved and underserved areas of the United States. As you interact with the map, it becomes clear that it is broken. Take this location (redacted for privacy) of a resident of the rural unincorporated community of Bodega, CA.

Note that they are about 1 mile from the main road. Comcast has quoted them $150,000.00 to run fiber to their home. Also note the neighbors who have service (the green dots).

This is at zoom level 15. Now, click on the ‘-’ button to zoom out and guess what …

Suddenly the map switches to cells based on census blocks and now showing large blocks as 100% served, even pasture land where there is only a single home. Now zoom out one more time and the entire area is showing up mostly 100% served. It is important to note that our example address is still showing as unserved.

It is clear that the implementation of this map is broken leading to the wrong conclusion that this rural area of Sonoma County in California is well served when it is not. Finally, let's just zoom out to show the majority of Sonoma County, whose unincorporated areas are home to 146,739 residents, 30.1% of the total population. What is the real percentage of served versus unserved, clearly NOT this.

click on image to explore the FCC Broadband Map

This is just one example of how even the best efforts are failing. The funny thing is that the Map Legend includes “Served Units Percentage” to support degrees of service, but the underlying logic results in a 0% or 100% served. Clearly whoever developed this map failed.

As you can see, if even one home in a census block -- the smallest geographic area used by the US Census Bureau -- can get broadband service, the entire area is considered served. In rural areas, that home may be the only place with internet service for miles around. And the data only shows places service providers could provide broadband within 10 business days of a request, not areas that are actually connected. As of the 2010 census, there were 11.2 million census blocks in the US. By comparison, there are an estimated 150 million parcels -- the way land is divided for taxes -- in the country.

Even worse! To build the map, internet service providers twice a year give the FCC what's called Form 477 data that details coverage areas and speeds. But the FCC doesn't check the data; it just relies on the ISPs to report accurate information.

The flawed maps have presented a big problem as governments try to distribute broadband funding. If a census block is considered covered by the FCC map, it's not eligible for federal assistance. That's particularly worrisome as the US distributes billions through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, which the FCC has called its "largest investment ever to close [the] digital divide."

What is the solution? A mapping tool that consolidates all the address databases and then shows service relative to population, not by census block. Next, ISP’s should be providing addresses that either have service, or have had service in the past. Overlaying the two, we now have a true picture of how bad access to broadband in rural California really is.

APRA Award

We are happy to announce that we have been awarded an ARPA grant to deploy free public Wi-Fi to the rural unincorporated communities of Bodega, Bodega Bay, Forestville, Cazadero, Monte Rio, and Jenner.

For any of you who have visited the amazing hamlet of Guerneville in Sonoma County, where the wine country meets the redwoods, you quickly and rather rudely discover the lack of basic cellular service in the area. In June of this year, EQAC was awarded $30,000 in a TIF grant from Sonoma County to figure out how to deploy a free public Wi-Fi in the rural unincorporated community of Guerneville, CA. We did it and we proved that we could do it with a cost of $13 per resident per year for free equitable access to the Internet, this is an amazing ROI.

We were able to deploy 10 Cisco Meraki MR86 access points throughout downtown giving about 1.5 square miles of coverage, 5 of the access points are gateways while the other 5 are repeaters.

Now, residents and tourists alike can access the Internet, look up job and family services, and most of all, use Wi-Fi to make phone calls. People who can not afford any access now have it.

A significant feature of our network architecture is that one to two of the nodes will be Starlink powered by solar with a battery backup. Because most of rural California suffers through Public Safety Power Shutoff events, and will do so for the next decade, continued operation of communication is critical. This feature means that when there is no power, no cell, and no Comcast (or AT&T or Sonic), our network will still operate. 

During the Walbridge and LNU fires of 2020 and 2021, all communications were down. Fire fighters couldn’t reach each other, evacuation information could not get out, and pockets of residents were left without any way to know what danger was coming or how to respond. During the pandemic, education took place online, yet whole communities are unable to get cell, wifi or broadband connectivity.

Our three pillars are: digital education and equitable access to the internet; disaster preparedness; and economic development.

With the ARPA grant, EQAC will now prove that we can scale this model to these other communities in Sonoma County, creating a gold standard that can be used across all of rural California.

Equitable access to the Internet is a critical component to rural broadband. Sadly, free public Wi-Fi networks such as these have been overlooked in the $6 Billion Rural Broadband legislation that Governor Newsom signed to help bridge the digital divide. 

 Currently free public Wi-Fi is defined as a public library. We are working now to lobby to get this changed and the proof is in the pudding as we bring online these rural and disadvantaged communities. Come to Guerneville and discover for yourself how critical the free public Wi-Fi is and how much of an impact it has made on people's lives.

#freepublicwifi #digitaldivide #ruralbroadband #equitableaccess #digitaleducation #safety #disasterpreparedness

We Are EQAC

There has never been a greater need to close the digital divide for unserved and underserved communities. EQAC is dedicated to going where no for-profit corporation will go – to those that need broadband access the most.

EQAC began as a project of the Russian River Alliance to bring free public Wi-Fi to downtown Guerneville in Sonoma County, a disadvantaged rural community. Because rural and disadvantaged areas do not have enough income or population to attract large corporate broadband providers, these areas are left with minimal, if any connectivity. During the past 5 years, the town of Guerneville has suffered through floods, fires, and a pandemic where the ability to operate online for education and disaster preparedness has been more critical than ever.

During the Walbridge and LNU fires of 2020 and 2021 all communications were down, meaning that fire fighters couldn’t reach each other, evacuation information could not get out, and pockets of residents were left without any way to know what danger was coming or how to respond. During the pandemic education took place online, yet whole communities are unable to get cell, wifi or broadband connectivity.

The challenges that Guerneville faces are very similar to pretty much every rural community in California. From our success with Guerneville, we have created a model that can be duplicated across all of rural California.

EQAC was formed as a charitable and public purpose to fund deployment and access to broadband facilities; fund technology, equipment, content, and training necessary to provide broadband service to unserved and underserved communities, and to disseminate information in order to advance these goals.

This is the sole purpose of EQAC public benefit corporation and receives 100% of the 501(c)3 time and funding. The project is funded by grants from County, State, and Federal funding. We anticipate applying for funding from private foundations, although government grants will be the primary funding source. The Board is founded with volunteer directors; purchase and installation of the equipment and technical support is provided through contractors working for the corporation.