Alma Telephone Company Broadband (ATC) is bringing high-speed fiber optic internet to Pierce County with work slated to begin sometime within the next 60 days.
ATC’s Director of Marketing, Briana Taylor says the plan is to “overbuild” the entire existing coverage area. Part of a larger regional strategy, ATC has already received this upgrade and work is currently ongoing in Baxley, which puts Blackshear and anywhere else in Pierce served by the company next on the list.
ATC’s plans requires an easement through, or more properly beneath, Blackshear City Park, which means the required ordinances have been a topic of discussion at the city council’s work session and regular meeting (this edition went to press prior to the February 10 regular meeting of the city council), but more than just Blackshear’s downtown will be receiving the proposed improvements.
Every location in Pierce County that ATC currently serves will eventually see their current cable connections replaced with fiber optic line. Once the new lines are in place, there will always be the option to expand it into new subdivisions and neighborhoods as the population and housing market in Pierce continues to grow.
“The plan is to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible,” says Taylor.
“And with as little disruption to the community and residents as possible,” adds Steven Paul, ATC VP for Commercial Accounts and Chairman of the Pierce County Industrial Development Authority.
That minimal disruption includes minimal disruption to the city park. When Greenleaf Street went away during the first refresh of Blackshear City Park so did ATC’s original right of way agreement with the city. To help keep their plans in budget and on schedule, ATC formally requested an easement with the promise that the line will go in under the park, being burrowed out beneath the surface with a special no-dig technique that will not be visible on the surface, and will not interfere with any of the city’s upcoming plans for refitting the park. ATC’s dedicated burying crew have consulted with Blackshear Police Chief Chris Wright and the city’s engineer of record to make sure ATC’s plan and the vision for the park both align.
As for why the update matters, Taylor and Paul say it will help Pierce keep up with other communities. High speed internet is attractive to investors, businesses and consumers alike.
“We want to keep Pierce on the cutting edge,” says Paul.
In addition to increased reliability and more “symmetrical” upload and download speeds (cable tends to have slower upload speeds), the new fiber optic lines will improve streaming services, especially viewing programs and gaming, by helping to eliminate buffering.
“Your experience is just going to be better all the way around,” says Taylor.
Paul explains that cable-based modems can “hiccup” because they deliver information in clump-like “packets” compared to fiber optic downloads which deliver information like a firehose being turned on.
Some locations in Pierce, mostly businesses, already have access to the new fiber service, but Taylor and Paul confirm this will be available to all clients once complete.
You won’t see it once the work is done. All new fiber optic lines will be buried rather than overhead, which helps protect service during severe weather events. Taylor says it is a simple matter for ATC teams to trench and recover in soil along most right-of-ways, but anywhere there is asphalt, concrete or brick (or a need to not disturb the surface such as Blackshear City Park), the no-dig drilling method will be required.
ATC has not announced any specific completion date for the overbuild due to a variety of factors, including the situation not so much on the ground but just underneath it.
