'You can't do anything without internet service:' How broadband money could help communities

Nestled in a valley between Glen Rock and Shrewsbury, Almony's Property Solutions Inc. has relied on Verizon for its internet service for about 15 years.

It's the only option that has been available to the landscaping, hardscaping and excavating company, which is located about three miles from Interstate 83. A hot spot sits in a window so that employees can connect to the outside world.

"We've looked into other opportunities and options, and it's going to be several thousand dollars for us to get other options here," said Carrie Almony, vice president and office manager.

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President Biden recently signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, which includes $65 billion for broadband to ensure Americans have access to reliable, high-speed internet service, according to the White House. Almony said she hopes it will help individuals like herself who work and live in more rural areas.

Pennsylvania is expected to receive at least $100 million to expand broadband internet statewide, including to nearly 400,000 residents who do not have it, according to the White House, U.S. Senator Bob Casey Jr. and state Sen. Senator Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York County.

It's still too early to determine how much money counties will receive. State legislators are working on a bill that would create a Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority, which would be tasked with targeting the money to underserved areas and helping to coordinate public and private efforts to prevent overbuilding in any geographic area, Phillips-Hill said.

Unlike some states, Pennsylvania does not have a statewide broadband plan, and the authority would develop one. It would help access additional federal infrastructure money available, Phillips-Hill said. The authority would dissolve after six years.

Broadband funding could go toward both hard and soft assets, including towers, fiber, and programming to help close the digital divide, said Sheri Collins, acting executive director of the Governor’s Office of Broadband Initiatives.  

Remember dial-up? Some still have it. 

Internet service across the state varies. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, some adults and students could remotely connect to work, school and health care visits. Others, however, could not.

In some locations, residents have access to more than one service provider while in other areas, no access exists at all, Collins said. Some still rely on dial-up. Others use cellular hot spots.

One of the challenges in Pennsylvania is topography, Collins said. 

In her travels around the state, she has seen directions taped to a tree or balloons used as a marker to help drivers reach their destination because no signal exists to provide GPS.

"There are a lot of challenges, but I also think that there are more opportunities in front of us now than there have ever been," she said.

A willingness, commitment and dedication exists at the federal, state and local levels in figuring out how to get people connected. 

Lack of internet an urban and rural problem

In York County, the need for broadband is great in both urban and rural areas, said Silas Chamberlin, vice president of economic and community development at the York County Economic Alliance.

"Census data shows an estimated 32 percent of residents lack high-speed internet to meet their basic needs of remote working, learning and telehealth," he wrote in an email.

In rural parts of the county, such as in the South Eastern School District, nearly 71 percent of households lack access to broadband, he said. But even in urban areas, such as York, 49 percent of residents in the most underserved portions don't have it, either. And in Hanover, 25 percent of households remain in the dark.

In addition, some residents are paying for internet, but the service is not fast enough to allow them to do basic functions, such as logging into a video conference for a doctor's appointment, Chamberlin said. 

In a recent local survey, 30 percent of respondents indicated they are paying for service that does not meet the Federal Communications Commission's definition of "high speed" internet. 

That's why the York County Commissioners and the York County Economic Alliance have invested $26.5 million of funding from the CARES and Rescue Acts to help address the issue, he said.

"In York County alone, we could easily absorb $100 million of investment in broadband," Chamberlin said. "If you start multiplying that need across entire states and the whole country, you can see that the funding totals are still too small to fully address the need.  But it’s a great start."

York County, he said, is well positioned to take advantage of the federal funding. A feasibility study done last year resulted in the creation of YoCo Fiber, "a clear strategy for the construction of a 333-mile middle mile network that will expand fiber into underserved parts of the county and entice private providers to begin offering service to businesses and households."

Sixteen miles of the network have been constructed so far along the Heritage Rail Trail County Park, and an additional 144 miles will be built over the next several years. The commissioners approved another $20 million this year for the project. 

"Federal funding from the infrastructure bill would build on these investments and allow us to complete the entire middle mile network sooner than expected," Chamberlin said.

It also might incentivize private providers to work with the county and economic alliance to build off of the middle mile, he said.

In addition, $5 million is being invested to build free public WiFi networks in the City of York and Hanover metro areas to provide affordable access, he said.

Money will be spent efficiently, effectively

The Federal Communications Commission is working to update its maps to accurately reflect who does — and doesn't — have access to broadband, Phillips-Hill said. The maps are expected to be available next year.

Under the authority, a statewide database would be created to map where projects are being worked on.

"The last thing we want to do is put additional resources into areas that are already covered and forget about areas that are not," she said.

Under the proposed legislation, the auditor general would audit the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority. It would include the receipts, disbursements,

contracts, mortgages and investments.

"What we're working to assure is that whatever funding comes to Pennsylvania, it is efficiently, effectively being spent and that we are respectful of the people who pay our bills," she said.

Internet needed to run businesses

Bear Mountain Orchards Inc. in Adams County has internet service, but it's marginal at best, said Patrick Malloy, a sales and operations manager. 

It's slow, and in and out often.

The orchards could use better service, Malloy said, but was told that it would cost thousands of dollars to bring the line closer.

Internet is crucial to business operations, including handling pay roll.

"You can't do anything without internet service anymore," Malloy said. 

The Almonys in southern York County found the same thing.

One broadband company offered to bring internet service a few years ago, saying it would involve getting petitions from some residents, but then nothing ever came of it, Carrie Almony said. 

More recently, the company told her husband it would cost $15,000 just to bring service to the small business. That's not an option, she said.

The Almonys also had reached out to another internet provider. It would have been able to offer service by placing an antenna on a nearby hill, which would have given a line of sight for its radio frequencies. But to get the service from the hill to the landscaping company would have cost $3,500.

Carrie Almony is hoping the broadband money will help to bring more internet options to individuals like herself.

"We're 1.2 miles off of Main Street in Shrewsbury, which is less than three miles from Interstate 83," she said. "But yet I still don't have those options. My neighbors don't have those options, and it's difficult for those of us who want to live — although we

don't live far — ... in more rural housing."