“Quality matters as much as speed,” explains NextLink Internet CEO/Owner Bill Barker, when discussing what level of internet service his company is bringing to Freestone County.
The company is actively working to build towers; to date they have completed most of the towers necessary west of the I-45 portion of the county, and plan to have the entire county covered by the end of 2021.
Barker shares his excitement over the company’s capability by explaining, “Nextlink is currently providing gigabit service via wireless delivery methods. In Freestone County, we would immediately be rolling out service up to 50mb and ultimately will increase that level to 100mb downloads speeds in 2021.”
Internet is provided via a tower and radio waves, which provide service to people living in the general radius, a single tower can handle well over a hundred people, but in a rural setting, it is not likely to be needed by as many people.
Service is best within a five-mile radius, although it does reach farther. Ideally, towers would be ten miles apart, allowing people to stay within the five-mile radius of the tower.
In the same vein of thought, a family of four people could easily all stream Netflix at the same time using their internet service.
Barker makes an effort to explain what matters in quality internet service by stating, “What’s even more important than speed is latency. Having low latency ensures you don’t have glitches when online gaming, or dropouts when using the phone over internet.”
Latency is essentially the time it takes between your computer and the internet to execute a command.
As they look to expand across the county, their team of site development professionals will be contacting landowners in the area to see about the possibility of purchasing or leasing about a quarter acre of land for a tower.
A tower is typically 150 feet tall, and takes around three to four days with onsite construction during an approximately fourteen-day period.
Another feature offered by NextLink is their Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, which means having phone service over the internet.
This well utilized service is very reminiscent of a standard phone service, but instead of using phone lines, it works through the internet.
One thing CEO Barker explains is how a wireless based internet service provider can be more affordable than a standard fiber line in rural Texas, is because the wireless does not require anything besides a tower, while fiber lines require lines that run to every home that receives the service.
Currently they are looking at working across Freestone County during the remainder of 2020 and into 2021.
If the service is not offered in your area, send a note to their sales team with your address and interest.
Barker reminds us, “we certainly respond quicker to rolling out service in those areas that have indicated a strong interest for us.”
For anyone interested in the companies service visit nextlinkinternet.com and check the coverage map.
