WARWICK — Warwick town employees are taking the next step to improve residents’ internet experience by installing 200 new transmitters across town.
According to Town Coordinator and Broadband System Administrator David Young, town employees began installing 5-gigahertz internet transmitters in June that he hopes will significantly improve the speed of the town’s homegrown wireless internet system
“A more challenging customer site might only go twice as fast or five times as fast,” Young clarified.
Young said the project involves replacing the current transmitters and repositioning the new equipment “so that it’s dialed in for the best signal.” As of early September, he said town employees have replaced more than 20 transmitters and begun to migrate customers to the new equipment.
In May’s town meeting, voters approved the borrowing of $240,000 to effect the upgrade. However, Young said the upgrading process is taking longer than expected due to supply issues, weather and the inevitable learning curve as town employees learn how to install the new equipment.
“We’re unique in that we use exclusively wireless and we’re doing it ourselves,” Young said of Warwick’s broadband system. “We’re getting more for our dollars by using our own employees.”
Residents also continue to sign up for the town-owned service.
“We have added 14 customers this year,” Young said. “They keep on calling and we do what it takes.”
Young estimates it will take a year to install all 200 transmitters and said the process will be minimally disruptive to residents. To install a new transmitter on Mount Grace, Young must apply for a permit.
Young said that though town employees are working to improve the current Internet quality, he and the Broadband Committee continue to work on applying for a $450,000 Massachusetts Broadband Institute grant that would enable the town to get high-speed LTE Internet. Young is working to submit a range of documents, including an updated timeline, that MBI requires to reach a decision.