https://www.portofbellingham.com/DocumentCenter/View/9122/WC-Rural-Broadband-DF_RFPS?bidId=

Hello everyone. I hope you are well and staying healthy. In the past, I've written about the Port's excellent work on fiber, especially compared to other entities like the city. Economic Development Project Manager, Gina Stark, especially, should be commended for her excellent work on the issue. In February the Port announced that they were looking for consultants, and other critical staff, to advise them on their first rural fiber run to Glacier. Of course, this was effected by COVID-19, but since the pandemic began, I've been contacted by both the County Executive and a Port Commissioner about Starlink. While Starlink may seem exciting to some, it is nothing like fiber, the initial tests are terrible to say the least, and in 5 years the performance will probably feel as obsolete then as DSL does now. So it's not a solution for our rural broadband needs. We need fiber. There is no way around it and it's time for our "leaders" to accept it. So please ask them when they're going to start the planned Glacier fiber run and remind them that we need real infrastructure like fiber. They already have the money to start. Wireless and Satellite are only as good as the fiber backing them up on the ground anyway and none of them are as good as fiber from every standpoint including price per Mbit, ecological impact, reliability, and more. 

Contacts:

ginas@portofbellingham.com, michaels@portofbellingham.com,
kenb@portofbellingham.com, bobbyb@portofbellingham.com, SSidhu@co.whatcom.wa.us, council@co.whatcom.wa.us