New Hubs, New Community, New Public WiFi
Open Broadband has a lot of news to share about the progress in Alexander County.
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New Hub: Three Forks Baptist Church
We installed two new hubs in Alexander County. The newest one is at Three Forks Baptist Church. With this hub, we are able to provide Internet service to homes that have line-of-sight to the steeple of the church. We love utilizing church steeples to serve nearby homes.
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New Hub: Apple House Lane
We also installed a hub on Apple House Lane. If you live on Apple House Lane or McDuffie Court we can serve you from that hub. We were also able to use this hub to provide WiFi at Little River Baptist Church and some homes on Little River Church Road that can see the hub on Apple House Lane.
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New Community: First Customers in Hiddenite
Until we complete the installation of our antennas on the Craftmaster Water Tower, our coverage in Hiddenite and Stony Point will be very limited. However, there are some residents of Hiddenite that have line-of-sight to Linney's Mountain Tower. We were able to provide service at two of those homes on Keever Lane in the last couple of weeks.
If you can see Linney's Mountain Tower and want to get your service as soon as possible, then send your name, address, e-mail, and cell phone with the message - I can see Linney's Mountain Tower to Nichole@Openbb.net or (704) 665-7561.
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New Public WiFi: Supporting Students
We have added three public WiFi locations in Alexander County to support students who don't have broadband at home.
Alexander County public WiFi locations are in downtown Taylorsville and the parking lots of Three Forks Baptist Church and Little River Baptist Church.
If you have friends in other parts of NC who are interested you can view all of our public WiFi locations on this map.
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New Streets With Customers
We have turned up customers on the following streets in Alexander County (bold indicates new):
- 3rd Ave SW
- Apple House Ln
- Carson Chapel Rd
- Coon Mountain Ln
- Daniels Lumber Rd
- Fair Acres Ln
- Forest Rd
- Fox Way Rd
- Golden Pond Ln
- Hammer Rd
- Hayden Burke Rd
- Henry Rd
- Henry Watts Rd
- High Point Dr
- Highway 16 N
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- Ingram Farm Rd
- Jay Burke Rd
- Kelsoe Hollow Ln
- Keever Ln (Hiddenite)
- Liledoun Rd
- Lin Adams Ln
- Little River Church Rd
- Peach Tree Ln
- Pearson Knob Ln
- Robertson Dr
- Shady Oaks St
- Southern Skies Dr
- St. Clair Rd
- Tower Rd
- Wagner Rd
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If you live on one of these roads, your home may be serviceable. Make sure you are on the waitlist openbb.net/alexanderco, then contact Nichole Rowland to discuss getting scheduled for installation: (704) 665-7561 or nichole@openbb.net.
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Map Showing Current Broadband Focus Areas as of April 2020
Green Highlighted Area: Current service area.
Link to the map.
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New Ways of Staying Connected Even When Apart
COVID-19 has brought many changes to our communities, affecting the ways we live, work and interact. But throughout these changes, one thing has stayed constant: Our determination to serve you and your internet needs in a safe manner.
Working in your community
As one of the many essential services responding to this national emergency, our work continues – even in those areas with stay-at-home ordinances. You may still see some of our field technicians working in and around your neighborhood. Their work is helping to ensure that residential communities, businesses and critical facilities have the internet they need throughout this time.
As a precaution, if you do see our workers, please avoid approaching them and their work areas. If there is a need to speak with them, be aware that they will be maintaining at least 6 feet of separation. We’ll also be keeping this recommended distance anytime direct interaction for essential services is required on customer properties, inside homes and businesses, consistent with CDC and other public health guidelines.
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New Tips for Being Productive at Home
Zoom has become mainstream for attending classes, meeting with coworkers, and socializing with friends and family. A few tips and suggestions for using Zoom.
- Update your profile to include a picture this way when you aren't sharing your video the others in the meeting still have a picture to go with your name.
- If multiple people share the computer and your meeting shows a different name you can right-click and choose rename to correct your name.
- Use a virtual background, you don't need a green screen to do this. You can find some virtual backgrounds here.
- More Zoom tips and tutorials.
Free Ebooks - You may not be able to visit the library but there are plenty of free books available.
- Bookbub allows you to join for free and view free ebooks that you can get from Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple Books, Google Play and Kobo.
Resources for parents to support your child as they are learning can be found on the Alexander County Schools Curriculum & Instruction - Parent Resources page.
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Links to Previous Newsletters (and topics)
Map Showing Current Focus Area
No. 5 Mar 2020 - How we perform a site test. Current streets with customers and focus area map. Who we hired locally. Link to Commissioners Update on Broadband. Top Questions and Answers. Photos from Alexander County Installs. Link to March Newsletter.
No. 4 Jan 2020 - Current streets with customers and focus area map. Top Questions and Answers. Energy United Poles and Vertical Assets, new local hiring. Link to January Newsletter.
No. 3 Dec. 2019 - First customers installed, December installation target area identified, Linney's Mountain Tower Antennas Installed, and Energy United Pole form link and instructions provided. Link to December Newsletter.
No. 2 Nov. 2019 - Taylorsville Apple Festival - Marketing and Free WiFi, Alexander County Waitlist is Over 800 and Growing, and Linney's Mountain Tower Preparation, (links to Apple festival pictures, Google Maps - Energy United Poles, current planned focus area map, and available positions). Link to November Newsletter.
No. 1 Oct. 2019 - Why we started with Linney's Mountain Tower, Alexander County Waitlist - Over 600 locations, the process for managing residential sign-ups was described, announced that we would be providing WiFi at the Apple Festival and shared local positions. Link to October Newsletter.
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