MILLINOCKET, Maine — Downtown’s lack of fiber-optic broadband Internet service forces the owners of Designlab to employ some old-fashioned and time-consuming methods to get their work done.
Whenever the Penobscot Avenue marketing firm has raw video to be edited, it uses a Cyr Bus Line bus that has a route through the region to courier a hard drive to its editor’s office in Presque Isle, said Jessica Masse, Designlab’s co-owner.
But it’s an aggravation that will soon cease. GWI, an Internet service provider from Biddeford, was installing cable Tuesday that will help Designlab become the Katahdin region’s first small business with fiber-optic broadband capability, said Michael Faloon, a member of the OurKatahdin volunteer group working to revive the region’s economy.
GWI is running fiber-optic cable connected to Maine Fiber Company’s Three Ring Binder network from Aroostook Avenue to Designlab at 135 Penobscot Ave.
“It is a work in progress. Yesterday they worked on the [utility] poles. Today they are working on the building,” Masse said Tuesday. “It will be about three weeks before we are up and running.”
The connection will cost Designlab $1,700 plus a monthly fee, Masse said. Businesses that tap into Designlab’s connection will likely pay less, she said.
A message left at GWI on Tuesday was not immediately returned.
“Our business model depends on us being able to download and upload large amounts of data with people in our office and at remote locations,” Masse added. “Because we work collaboratively with our remote staff, we need almost real-time exchanges [of data].”
Designlab won’t be the last Katahdin region business to seek broadband service, Faloon said. OurKatahdin secured a $47,200 planning grant last month from the ConnectME Authority, which describes itself as a component unit of Maine state government whose mission is to facilitate the universal availability of broadband to all Mainers.
“Our focus for the planning process will be to determine the area’s current broadband assets, the demand for greater speeds from residents and businesses, and the need for digital literacy,” Faloon said. “Since Three Ring Binder runs down Route 157, we are hoping that we will be able to offer fiber-optics [the fastest speeds] to any business along Route 157 at steeply discounted rates.”
Maine Fiber Company’s Three Ring Binder network connects 172 Maine communities through close to 200,000 miles of cable strung on utility poles around the state. It was built in 2012 with $33 million in grants and private investments.
The local Three Ring Binder connection runs from Mattawamkeag to Interstate 95 in Medway and from Grindstone to Millinocket along Route 157 to Millinocket Regional Hospital, Faloon said.
Designlab owners Masse and John Hafford, her husband, are among the Katahdin Broadband Group volunteers from East Millinocket, Medway and Millinocket who are working to expand the Katahdin region’s Three Ring Binder access. OurKatahdin, Katahdin Tourism Partnership member Anita Mueller, Medway Selectman John Lee, Millinocket Town Councilor Paul Sannicandro and East Millinocket Selectmen Clint Linscott are among the volunteers, Faloon said.
The volunteers continue to apply for grants to fund the work. No completion dates have been set.