PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County Public Utility District is preparing policies for prospective customers of its new broadband system.
Construction on the new system will begin this fall in Port Townsend, expanding to Discovery Bay, Quilcene and other underserved parts of the county, with anticipated completion in 2026.
The policies have been created to be fairly standard with those of other internet and broadband providers, though the PUD hopes to simplify what it is offering and is placing special focus on the underserved areas of the county.
“We need to have an overview document that will go out to our potential customers in the form of a brochure or single page, has the bullet points so that people understand what the PUD is offering and what they, the customers, are signing up for,” PUD Commissioner Ken Collins said during Monday’s meeting.
The policies are pretty standard. They say the PUD, as the Internet Service Provider (ISP), will not sell customer information without their permission, that customers will have due process should a complaint arise and that the PUD cannot be held liable for service disruption outside of its control, such as interruptions due to damage to equipment or damage that occurs due to natural disasters.
“Basically, it’s putting together a standard retail policy while protecting the interest of the PUD without placing an undue burden on the customer,” said Will O’Donnell, broadband and communications director.
Jefferson PUD has been working since 2012 to expand broadband access in the county.
It has received $36 million in grant funding from state and federal agencies and is pursuing another $4 million with a $1.8 million low-interest loan and $1.3 million in matching funds.
“We are changing over the entire way of building our network,” O’Donnell said.
Jefferson County is currently operating on an Active Optical Network (AON), also known as a point-to-point network, with dedicated fiber connections to powered switches that divide or split the Internet signals.
“This type of system is typically used for commercial industries, and while it has a greater range, about 56 miles, it’s much more expensive,” O’Donnell said.
The PUD is pushing the county toward a more residential system, a Passive Optical Network (PON).
“This network uses more shared equipment. We do passive splitting, which, instead of having switches, we are splitting the fiber connections so we can get to more homes with less equipment,” O’Donnell said.
PON has a shorter range, about 12.42 miles, but it allows for more expansion in the future. It is also about $400 cheaper than the current system.
PON also offers fast internet speeds, about 10 gigabytes per second per device utilizing the service.
“We are hoping to come back with a new rate package once this network is installed that kind of bases it around being able to do one gig rather than everybody at 100,200,500 megabytes,” O’Donnell said.
Current rates for broadband are $65 a month for most people and $20 per month for low-income customers.
“What we are building here does not exist in this county,” O’Donnell said. “The level of service and speed that customers will have access to will be hard to comprehend.”
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Reporter Ken Park can be reached by email at kpark@peninsuladailynews.com.
