One of the goals of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s Broadband Initiative is to provide Akwesasne the tools to succeed in today’s digital world. By providing available, public access to Broadband services through five public computer centers on the Akwesasne territory we plan to bring digital literacy to our community.
What is Broadband?
Broadband is a term to describe different types of high-speed Internet access and commonly refers to high-speed Internet access that is always on and faster than the traditional dial-up access.
The Broadband Initiative Program (BIP) is a federally funded program to expand high speed Internet access to rural parts of the country that are considered under-served. The Saint Regis Mohawk Community qualifies as such a location. The project is being funded by a grant/loan from the RUS (rural utilities service), a branch of the USDA. As this project rolls out all residents of the community will have access to high speed internet connections and if they choose voice grade phone service through a provider such as Vonage. We expect to have this project in construction by early this summer and should have the service available to all community members by early 2013.
The network being built is a fiber optic network that is capable of providing bandwidth speeds of up to 1 gig per connection though most residences and small businesses will need much less. As currently being designed the Tribe will own and operate the network but will not provide the actual services (voice and data). The customer will actually purchase those services from another company. This allows the Tribe to concentrate on the network and leave the customer service function to a third party. This is being done to insure that the services are made available through a company that is comfortable dealing with customer issues and it allows the Tribe to concentrate on maintaining the network. The precise offerings will be determined by the service provider but at the very least it is expected that high speed internet access will be at the core of any offering. Once that is provided the customer can then use the connection to set up a voice over Internet (VoIP) phone service, download movies and in some cases watch network TV. All these options become available once a high speed connection is present.
After the network is up and running there will be informational sessions scheduled so that residents will be able to maximize their usage of the services. With a high speed connecting in the home or small business a host of options become available like home automation, security, TV over the Internet (over the top video) and video and music streaming. While it is unlikely that all these services will be attractive to all residents it seems likely that at least some of them will appeal to a majority of customers.
Broadband Project Contact(s):
Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP)
Phone: (518) 358-2105
Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP)
Phone: (518) 358-2164
Frequently asked Questions about Broadband Home Equipment Installations 1. What am I signing up for? You are signing up for free installation of the business or residential network equipment, in preparation for future Internet service. If you wait and sign up after November 1st there may...
January 24, 2012
Public Computer Centers Akwesasne Boys & Girls Club - available Monday to Friday 9am to 2pm Akwesasne Library - available Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, Wednesday 9am to 6pm, Saturday 10am to 2pm Akwesasne Senior Center - available Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm Akwesasne Employment...