Alexander County September 2020

New Towers, New Public WiFi, New Service Areas

We have been busy in Alexander County and apologize for the long gap between newsletters. Since our last update in April, we have expanded our Alexander County service area. This newsletter will describe the expansion.

Additional Topics in this Newsletter:

Customer Satisfaction Survey Results
Even Better Support
Getting Service at Your Home
North Carolina Jobs

Craftmaster Water Tower – Service to Hiddenite

We installed new antennas on the Craftmaster Water Tower that will allow us to provide coverage to many more customers in Alexander County.
We really want to thank Craftmaster Furniture for helping Alexander County get broadband!

Round Top Mountain – Service to Rocky Face Area

We installed new antennas on top of Round Top Mountain that will allow us to provide coverage to many more customers in Alexander County.
We want to thank the Daniels family for helping Alexander County get broadband!

More Public WiFi: Supporting Students

We currently offer four public WiFi locations in Alexander County to support students who don’t have broadband at home.

Current Alexander County public WiFi locations:

Downtown Taylorsville around the Courthouse
Three Forks Baptist Church parking lot
Little River Baptist Church parking lot
Sulphur Springs Baptist Church parking lot

If you have friends in other parts of NC who are interested you can view all of our public WiFi locations on this map.

Does your church want to help?
In our effort to help the community we offer churches that are serviceable the option to provide free public WiF in their parking lots. We also provide great service rates to churches in the community.

New Service Areas

If you compare the maps from each newsletter you can see that our service area keeps growing. The map below with a link below the picture shows our current service area in Alexander County.

Map Showing Service Area as of September 2020
Green Highlighted Area: If your address is in the green area then it is likely serviceable now.
Yellow Highlighted Area: If it is in the yellow area, it may be serviceable but we likely need a hub to reach you.
Link to the map so you can check your address.

How do I use the map to check my address?

Select the search icon next to the map name.
Begin typing your address until it appears below the text “Move map to.”
Select your address.
Look for the red dot and see if it is in a green or yellow shaded area.

Customer Satisfaction Survey Results

We asked our customers who had installs before June to give us feedback, here are some of the results.

22 of 27 (customers who had a previous provider) said our service was better than their previous service.

16 out of 27 (who had a previous provider) said our service cost less than their previous service.

24 out of 28 have recommended Open Broadband to others.

22 out of 23 who had an opinion, think Alexander County should expand the pilot program to other areas.

Even Better Support

We strive to keep our customers happy, that is why we have made adjustments to our equipment to provide faster speeds and added more equipment on Linney’s mountain tower to support more traffic.

We also recently hired another employee at Open Broadband focused specifically on responding to service calls. His name is Ian Edelman. If you submit a support issue he will likely be the person who calls you back to troubleshoot the issue.

Call support if you have any problems or if your speed isn’t what you expect.

Our 24×7 NC based support number is (833) 880-9968.

How can I get service at my home?

Since this was a pilot project, we are not able to provide service to all of Alexander County.

Regardless of your location, make sure you have signed up on our waiting list openbb.net/alexanderco (If you get these newsletters e-mailed to you then you are on our waiting list.)
Check the map of our service area and see if your home is in the green area. Link to the map.
If your home has been tested and it is serviceable, Nichole will text the phone number on file and send an e-mail letting you know the site test was positive and requesting that you contact Nichole to schedule your install. [If you don’t respond to the text or e-mail, an attempt will be made to call the number on file.]
If you are in the green area and want to check on the status of your home, text Nichole at (704) 665-7561 with the following details: Name, address, “in the green area” checking status. If you don’t receive a response in 2 business days, send the text again or call and leave a voicemail.
Nichole will then let you know if your address has been tested and if it is serviceable or not serviceable at this time. Sometimes we need our customers to install a pole or trim a tree before we can perform an installation. We occasionally do a single-visit site test and install, the installer performs the test and immediately does the installation, for these appointments you are required to be home for the appointment.

I want to apologize if you left me a message and I didn’t respond. If you haven’t heard from me in 2 business days after you left a message please send me another message.

Homeowner installed a pole for the antenna.

This is an example where the homeowner installed a pole and we mounted the antenna on the pole. The homeowner will then bury the wiring.

Are You Looking for a Local Part-Time Job?

We are interviewing and hiring entry-level local Internet service testers (see job description). Interested applicants should email a resume to info@openbb.net for consideration.

Links to Previous Newsletters (and topics)

Map Showing Current service Area

No. 6 April 2020 – Three Forks Baptist Church Hub and Public WiFi, Apple House Lane Hub (Micro-PoP), first Hiddenite customers, Public WiFi in Downtown Taylorsville, Staying Connected While Apart and Being Productive at Home. Link to April Newsletter.

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.