Four NNY towns to get wireless Internet

WADDINGTON — Another option for high-speed Internet access will be live in parts of the north country later this month with additional coverage later this fall, as RidgeviewTel LLC, a service provider from Longmont, Colo., moves forward with its plans to extend itself into St. Lawrence County.

About 1,530 Morristown residents will be able to sign up for wireless Internet with RidgeviewTel later this month, if all goes as planned. The company is in negotiations with the town to install one of its antennas on the town's water tower, according to Daniel C. Churchill, a consultant with RidgeviewTel. Service to the towns of Waddington and Norfolk will be available by November.

"Our worst-case scenario is to be up here in the middle of November, which is not the best time to start," Mr. Churchill told the Waddington town board at a meeting Monday night.

Wireless Internet is coming to the three towns as a result of a $196,000 federal grant awarded to the St. Lawrence Chamber of Commerce via the Development Authority of the North Country. Of that, $180,000 will be going to RidgeviewTel. The rest has been awarded to Slic Network Solutions of Potsdam to expand wireless services to Brasher Falls. About 100 homes will be served with that expansion.

Because of the nature of wireless Internet, not everyone on the network will have the same speed or reliability, however. The geography of the county, with its hills, mountains and valleys, means that not all wireless customers will have the same signal strength, Mr. Churchill said.

The move to expand wireless Internet to these four towns is part of an initiative from the Chamber of Commerce to make the entire county wireless to make it attractive to telecommuters and small businesses.

"We targeted this area in Waddington because in our view, there was great potential for economic development in the connector with Norfolk," Chamber Executive Director Patricia L. McKeown said.