capital focus

JUNEAU — Residents near Ester Dome will soon have a new option for high-speed Internet service a little more than a year after Alaska Wireless cut its service in the area.

AlasConnect, a wholly owned subsidiary of Golden Valley Electric Association, will begin offering wireless broadband Internet service on Feb. 1 to homes on Murphy Dome, Moose Mountain, Birch Hill, along the Parks Highway and Goldstream Road and in other areas.

Jeff Yauney, the company’s president, said Friday that AlasConnect’s new service will cover some areas currently only served by slower dial-up technology.

Residents will have to be in line of sight of Ester Dome and within a 10-mile radius to receive the wireless signal.

Yauney said the company was set on proving its new technology before advertising and ultimately expanding to areas further from the city center. He cautioned that existing infrastructure can only cover about 1,000 users and said AlasConnect may have to limit the number of subscribers initially to avoid slowing down the service.

Ultimately, the company hopes to expand high-speed wireless to outlying areas such as Badger Road, Chena Hot Springs Road, and Fox, according to Yauney.

“We want to make sure that everybody that doesn’t have it has it,” he said.

Rates will likely initially be $50 and $85 a month for the two different speeds provided, Yauney said.

AT&T Alascom is also planning to provide new high-speed wireless Internet service in the central Fairbanks area toward the end of the year, according to information provided to Rep. David Guttenberg, a Democrat from Fairbanks who’s been studying the issue since Alaska Wireless pulled out at the end of 2006. AT&T’s service will initially cover a smaller area around central Fairbanks, but could be expanded later.

Guttenberg doesn’t take credit for spurring the new commercial interest, but said he’s been surveying Fairbanks residents on the issue and is considering legislation that would increase regulation for Internet providers in areas with limited access or even require that some service be provided within areas of a certain population density.

“We’re talking about children being able to do their homework, teachers being able to work from home, small businesses being able to work from home,” he said Friday.

Guttenberg lives along Murphy Dome Road and lost his Internet service when Alaska Wireless left the area. He said he’s been helping AlasConnect test its new service, which he said has been comparable to the service Alaska Wireless provided.

Locally owned Ace Tekk Wireless Internet already offers wireless service in and around Fairbanks, but the technology differs from that used by AlasConnect.

GCI also offers limited wireless Internet in the Fairbanks area. ACS could not be reached Friday afternoon.