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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Broadband project nearing completion in Cook

David Colburn
Posted 5/3/23

COOK- While emerging springtime has area residents prognosticating again about the most likely day for ice-out on Lake Vermilion, Cook residents have something else they’re looking forward to …

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Broadband project nearing completion in Cook

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COOK- While emerging springtime has area residents prognosticating again about the most likely day for ice-out on Lake Vermilion, Cook residents have something else they’re looking forward to – the completion of the high-speed fiber Gigazone broadband network being installed in the city by Paul Bunyan Communications.
The company ran into a snag last fall with supply chain issues that left them without the equipment necessary to complete the project before winter. But the equipment has now arrived, and some residents who signed up early and had fiber already run to their homes have been connected and are enjoying blazing fast speeds of up to 10 gigabytes.
The company recently hosted a sign-up event at the Cook Hospital, and according to Brian Bissonette, the company’s marketing supervisor, the turnout was strong.
“I checked in with the team that went and they said it was wall to wall,” Bissonette said. “It was nonstop – our crew from start to finish didn’t have a free moment. It wasn’t a meeting where we answered questions and things, we did that on a personal level. They were just able to go to the Cook Hospital and sign up for services that day. It was really successful. The word is starting to spread.”
The base level of Gigazone service available is 250 megabytes, with additional options ranging up to the 10-gigabyte maximum, Bissonette said. Because the network is fiber-based, upload speeds are as fast as download speeds, something that will accommodate many of the needs for high-speed fiber broadband revealed by the COVID pandemic, such as distance learning, telemedicine, media streaming, and working from home, Bissonette said.
“During the pandemic, when people were sent home to work from home and do distance learning, and maybe telemedicine, all those things combined with whatever else they were using the Internet for, Netflix and email and all of that, it really could get bogged down if you didn’t have those high speed, high upload speeds,” he said.
Subscribers can also get local and long-distance telephone service through the Gigazone, but Paul Bunyan’s television offerings won’t be available. That decision came down to the level of service the company holds itself to, Bissonette said.
“When we offer TV we want to be able to service it, and with Cook being so far from where our technicians usually are that’s not going to be available in the Cook expansion,” he said.
Television is a service that no longer generates profit for the cooperative, Bissonette said, due to the rates charged by the major media companies that control about 90 percent of the networks. And when those providers raise rates, Paul Bunyan has to increase its prices, too.
But in the new age of digital streaming, customers still have plenty of options to accommodate their desire to watch television channels, and Paul Bunyan has entered into a partnership with My Bundle.TV, a sort of streaming service matchmaker that can direct consumers to a streaming service that provides what they want to see.
“Let’s say they want Discovery, and they want the Twins games and they want A&E,” Bissonette said. “They can put that all in there and then it finds the options and tells them what current promotions they’re running on the current prices. Our network can support any streaming service and multiple streaming services, so if you want to watch something, and then your family, your spouse or your kids want to watch something else, they’re able to do that because of the speeds that we provide.”
With the winter’s deep snow acting as insulation the ground didn’t freeze as much as usual, and Bissonnette said that should allow work crews to start in on construction earlier than usual this year. Bissonette encourages people to sign up now to take advantage of the wave of construction workers that will be in Cook doing installations.
“They can call, they can go online, they can go into our office in Grand Rapids, anybody who didn’t get signed up before construction ended can still get signed up,” he said. “They’ll be added to the list for when we start construction again. If they sign up in June, we may not be able to get back there for a few weeks.”
For more information about Paul Bunyan’s Gigazone broadband or to sign up, call 888-586-3100.