Broadband Expansion Grant
Update: 7/13/22
Siren Telephone was awarded 50% of the project cost by the PSC of Wisconsin to install Fiber internet to 250 premises in the Des Moines Lake and Long Lake area.
https://psc.wi.gov/Documents/broadband/RptGrantSummarybyRound-BBEG2022.pdf
We will reach out to SirenTel in the coming months to get an idea of launch date.
Des Moines Lake Association
2865 Des Moines Trail
Webb Lake, WI 54830
1/23/2022
Public Service Commission of Wisconsin
4822 Madison Yards Way
Madison, WI 53705
To whom it may concern,
I am writing in support of Siren Telephone’s broadband grant application for the Des Moines Lake area. Our members and lake residents need access to reliable and capable internet that is properly maintained. The current options available to us fail to meet our requirements in these three qualities and we believe a Broadband Expansion Grant can fulfill our needs.
Our members have experienced numerous internet outages with our current ISP. In our area specifically, this is often related to networking equipment that has reached its user capacity. We have had several reports of our member’s existing internet service being disconnected when a technician installs service for a new client. These outages have lasted weeks, in some cases months. While our area in general struggles with internet speeds, there are times where our members are paying for service that does not even work.
Given our ISP is using DSL technology, members located far from our local DSLAM experience internet speeds reminiscent of dial-up technology from the 1990s. The measured speeds we have taken across some of these properties at differing times of the day are nowhere near the minimum requirements needed for common internet browsing in a Web 2.0 world. Streaming of videos is not possible unless ultra low resolutions like 240p are available. Applications requiring modest upload functionality are not usable as these member’s are topping out in the low hundreds of kilobits per second. These shortcomings leave our residents unable to work remotely given the inability to use video conferencing, upload large files, or meet minimum requirements for VPN connections.
A PSC Broadband Expansion Grant would allow Sirentel to install a fiber service that meets the demands of modern internet and media consumption for the Des Moines Lake area residents. We appreciate your consideration and we can only hope that our internet service can someday be in line or surpass the FCC’s definition of high speed internet set back in 2015.
Sincerely,
Ryan Knox
Secretary and Technology Director, Des Moines Lake Association