Residents Come out in Numbers for “Gigafy Phelan” Town Hall
The Race to Gigafy Phelan Begins
San Francisco, CA – August 28, 2017: On Sunday August 27th, The residents of Phelan welcomed Race Communications to town marking the beginning of the journey to “Gigafy Phelan”. The Womack Auditorium at Piñon Mesa Middle School was filled with residents who showed their excitement about finally gaining access to reliable high speed internet in their community. In attendance were members of the local Chamber of Commerce, business owners and even the group dubbed as “The Phelan 5” who played an essential role in gaining the final approval for the project. The presentation then went on to explain the next steps in the process to Gigafy Phelan after receiving approval from the California Public Utilities Commission back in July.
Raul Alcaraz, CEO of Race Communications expressed to the audience that: “Race Communications focuses on the areas that large carriers have long ignored.”, which garnered strong acknowledgement from the crowd. Alcaraz continued, using the small community of Boron, CA as an example of underserved areas that Race has connected with high speed fiber-based internet stating: “Boron has faster internet than downtown L.A. or San Francisco.”
There were several questions from the audience in regards to the project with the most pressing being how long the project will take to complete. Other members of the community asked how fiber internet connectivity from Race is different than other internet service providers and how the service would be brought to the area.
The project is expected to take anywhere from 12-24 months to complete. Bringing new services to the community is a resource-intensive project that requires careful research and planning. From start to finish there will be 4 phases to the construction process before Race is ready to start taking orders. The first phase is complete – acquiring the grant! Next comes the “Design” phase where the company will use the data gathered to create a map of where fiber can be built based on existing infrastructure and obstacles. Following the design phase is the long process of acquiring permits for the build.
Finally, construction can begin which is the phase you will see the most. Once plans and permits are in place, our crews will get straight to work. As construction nears completion, the order form will be released and residents will be able to sign up for service.
Over 60 members of the community signed up to receive project updates. Race Communications plans on holding their next town hall in October. More information on that will follow. To receive project updates, Race Communications, encourages members of the community to fill out an inquiry form.
When filling out the inquiry form, select “Phelan” from the drop-down menu whether you live in Phelan, Pinon Hills or Oak Hills as the grant was named “Gigafy Phelan” and encompasses all the areas.
