{"id":93643,"date":"2019-06-06T19:46:53","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T01:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/internet-options-likely-to-improve-in-bayfield\/"},"modified":"2019-06-06T19:46:53","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T01:46:53","slug":"internet-options-likely-to-improve-in-bayfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/internet-options-likely-to-improve-in-bayfield\/","title":{"rendered":"Internet options likely to improve in Bayfield"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Doug
Doug Miller, left, with FastTrack finishes splicing fiber-optic lines near Bayfield. The company plans further fiber-optic line expansions in town this year.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Internet service in Bayfield is likely to improve in the coming year as companies plan expansions in the area.<\/p>\n

Brainstorm Internet and AlignTec, wireless internet providers, and FastTrack Communications, an internet provider that serves businesses, all plan to expand service in the community.<\/p>\n

Bayfield has long been on the \u201cfringe\u201d of fiber-optic investments regionally because major fiber lines that connect towns to one another don\u2019t extend east of town to Pagosa Springs or beyond, said Sid Arnold, general manager of Brainstorm.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have even one major backbone going through a community, then you have options,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The large lines can open opportunities for private companies to expand services, but without them, communities struggle, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBayfield is ripe for needing broadband,\u201d said Arnold, a resident of the community.<\/p>\n

Brainstorm<\/a> has already invested in fiber-optic lines in the community that will likely allow for expansion of Brainstorm\u2019s wireless and fiber network, he said. He expects both projects to start this summer. Currently, Brainstorm customers in Bayfield must be within line-of-sight to Brainstorm\u2019s infrastructure to receive wireless internet.<\/p>\n

AlignTec recently started serving the northern section of the Dove Ranch subdivision north of Bayfield. It also has plans to start serving downtown Bayfield and the southern portion of Dove Ranch this year, said Orion Lukasik, CEO of the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cBayfield people have been really jumping up and down for some better options,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

FastTrack Communications plans to expand fiber-optic infrastructure in town before the end of the year, said General Manager Kelly Hebbard. She could not say exactly where the new fiber will be installed for competitive reasons, she said.<\/p>\n

FastTack provides internet services directly to businesses. Once FastTrack\u2019s fiber is in place, wireless internet companies, such as AlignTec<\/a>, can expand in the area to serve residents, she said. The company offers some services in the area and relies, in part, on fiber owned by the town of Bayfield, she said.<\/p>\n

FastTrack<\/a> was started by La Plata Electric Association and Empire Electric to serve residents in the area. So when the company installs new infrastructure, no costs are passed on to customers within the service areas of its founding electrical co-ops, she said.<\/p>\n

However, FastTrack\u2019s service areas extend far beyond the three counties served by LPEA and Empire, she said. The company serves Aztec, Farmington, Montrose and Grand Junction among other communities, so it can bring profits back into the communities it was founded to serve, she said.<\/p>\n

Businesses in Gem Village, just west of Bayfield, are pleased with FastTrack\u2019s recent expansion into their community, said Tracy McCracken, owner of Valley Feed and Ranch Supply. She hooked up to the new FastTrack service in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey knew that we were suffering here, big time,\u201d McCracken said of FastTrack.<\/p>\n

mshinn@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018ripe\u2019 for broadband upgrades, regional provider says<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[731,459,275],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-93643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-bayfield","tag-construction-and-property","tag-internet"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93643"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=93643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}