Page A10
Lake Oconee News
Friday, May 5,2017
T. Michael Stone/Staff
State Senator Burt Jones credited local leadership
in Morgan County for being chosen as one of the
first communities to receive AT&T's new service.
T. Michael Stone/Staff
State Representative Dave Belton said that rural
counties have lost population since World War
II but that the new service will help close the
connectivity gap for rural Georgians.
Wireless
Continued from A1
that rural communities are not
left behind, and I will continue
working with the private sector to
extend the high-speed connectivi
ty that Georgians want.”
Morgan County’s representative
in the House was delighted with
the news as well.
“Today’s announcement offers a
good example of the kinds of in
novative approaches we need to
encourage to extend high-speed
internet to rural areas,” said State
Representative Dave Belton. “I
am glad to see this increased con
nectivity in Morgan County, and
I look forward to the continuing
work ahead to help close rural
Georgia’s remaining connectivity
gap.”
Our lead paragraph is a face
tious one, of course, but residents
in rural parts of Morgan County
have long clamored for improved
internet access, with teachers and
parents of school-age children
perhaps crying the loudest.
The new AT&T service will
allow users in underserved rural
areas to access the internet with
download speeds of 10 megabytes
per second.
The improved connection
transmits from a wireless tower
to a fixed antenna on a customer’s
home or business.
AT&T says this is cost effective
way to deliver high-quality high
speed internet to customers living
in rural areas where installing
miles and miles of cable might be
cost prohibitive.
The new service is a result
of a AT&T’s participation in the
Federal Communications Com
mission’s (FCC) Connect America
Fund, a $1.5 billion reform initia
tive aimed at giving 23 million
Americans in rural areas viable
and affordable internet access, ac
cording to fiercewireless.com.
Hayes said AT&T plans to reach
more than 67,000 locations with
the technology across Georgia by
2020 and will begin to deploy the
service later this year in 17 other
states.
“Senator Jones, Rep. Belton,and
our area elected officials have
consistently fought for increased
access to high-speed internet in
Morgan County, and it is encour
aging to see some of the products
of those efforts,” said Bob Hughes,
president of the Morgan County
Chamber of Commerce. “Their
appreciation of this community
need is vital to ensuring that we
continue to move forward in a
positive direction and continue
working to extend the high-speed
connectivity that the residents
and businesses in Morgan County
need.”
A second press conference was
held last Tuesday to announce
that Greene County will also be
among the first Georgia counties
to benefit from the project.
“The Tower by quail inter
national is almost ready to go
[Highway] 15 south,” State Repre
sentative Trey Rhodes said. “Only
19 communities in the country
and we have two here. Putnam
will hopefully be soon and we
will get additional towers in the
future.”
AT&T is required by its agree
ment with the FCC to make the
service available to 40 percent of
the 67,000 locations by the end of
2017.
“While I can’t speak to future
locations, our teams continue to
work quickly to make this service
available, and we anticipate a
number of announcements in
the coming weeks and months,”
Hayes said.
AT&T plans to reach more than
1.1 million locations overall with
fixed wireless broadband by 2020.
“The more than 19,000 men
and women who work for AT&T
and call Georgia home are
working every day to turn our
investments into the high-speed
connectivity that Georgia’s res
idents and businesses demand,”
said Bill Leahy, president of AT&T
Georgia. “Through this innovative
service, we are further closing the
remaining connectivity gap in
rural Georgia.”
The price schedule for the
service when it become available
is listed below:
• Internet-only: With a one-year
contract, FWI stand-alone will
be offered for $60 a month.
Without a contract, or after the
contract period, the price will
be $70 per month.
• Bundled: With a one-year
contract, when bundled with
either DIRECTV or AT&T
wireless, FWI will cost $50 a
month as long as the customer
has the other service. Without a
contract, FWI can be bundled
with either DIRECTV or AT&T
wireless for $60 as long as the
customer has the other service.
• There is no separate equipment
fee. There is a $99 installation
fee for FWI when purchased
either standalone or with a
wireless plan. It is waived if pur
chased with DIRECTV.
• A charge of $10/50GB applies
for usage in excess of 160GB of
data per month.
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