High speed Internet access has arrived in Pamlico County. This story was sent to the TownDock.net web server via the new Pinelink wireless high speed internet service. While it is still in "beta" testing mode, several sites have been installed to begin testing. We have been fortunate here at TownDock.net to be among those sites. It works - and it's fast.

The signal comes from this tower on Kershaw Road. Soon a second transmitter will be added on the Oriental Water Tower.

Much of Oriental will soon have the high speed web access, that is 10 to 50 times faster than the dial-up connections most county residents have been using to get on line.

As a largely rural area with a spread-out population, standard commercial operations were not interested in extending high speed internet service to Pamlico County. But the non-profit PINE received a $230,000 grant to bring the signal here. That groundwork has now been laid, the first transmitter set up and the signals are now being tested.

For Rick Happ, it’s the culmination of a couple of years of work. The Reelsboro resident who spearheaded the PINE effort says he began working to bring the high speed internet access because, “everyone needs it so badly. “

How It Works

The signal initially comes from a high bandwidth T1 line connected to ATT’s high speed internet backbone. It connects by a land cable, to the tower Joel Mele owns off of Kershaw Road. The tower then takes that terrestrial T1 signal and broadcasts it to sites around town.

The indoor antenna (left) and modem. The antenna is about the size of a typical hardback book.

Those within a mile of the tower may receive the signal via an indoor antenna about the size of a book. That antenna then hooks up to a modem and to the customer’s computer. Those who live more than a mile away from the transmitter but within a 4 mile radius, may receive the signal via an outdoor antenna.

At the end of May, a second transmit station will be installed at the Oriental water tower, and that will more effectively serve the village of Oriental. By early June those within a mile of the water tower may receive the high speed internet signal thru a tabletop, indoor antenna. Those living one mile to four miles away, would have an outdoor antenna installed.

Different Levels of Service Offered

While the grant to PINE pays for the infrastructure, it still falls to individual users to pay a monthly fee and antenna installation.

Rick Happ working with the PineLink equipment at the tower site.

There will be residential and business services. The Basic Residential monthly fee is $24.95/month for 256 kb, and the Basic Business fee is $44.95/mon for 512 Kb. Rick Happ explains "The Business rate is higher as it is faster and businesses are expected to use the bandwidth through much of the day, where residences would not. Businesses must purchase business class accounts."

An even higher speed access will be available to residential and business customers. The Residential Premium account will cost $34.95/month for 1Mb/s (a million bits per second) while the Business Premium account will cost $64.95/month for 1.5 Mb/second .

The modem and antenna cost $10 a month to rent. Installation, according to the Pinelink.org website, would cost approximately $40 for the indoor antenna, and $150 for the external.

PineLink says its rates compare favorably to the cost of an additional phone line many in the county are paying for in order to have a seperate line for internet use. As for the speed, the comparison is drastic. The 256 kb/s rate is about ten times faster than a typical dial up. The Business Premium package at 1.5Mb/s would be over 50 times faster than a dial up.

The high speed access is expected to make it easier for residents here to telecommute. It removes one obstacle for those who have said they would move here but needed the high speed access to continue with their livelihoods.

The Schedule

The first high speed "bits" flowed last week at the tower site when the T1 line was installed. TownDock publisher Keith Smith checks the speed with PINE's Rick Happ.

In recent weeks project leader Rick Happ and volunteer Bob Couranz have been testing the signal strength at various places in Oriental. TownDock.net publisher Keith Smith has also assisted in this testing (Smith is a board member of the non-profit PineLink - a volunteer unpaid position). This included testing the signal from TownDock.net's upstairs balcony (where HarborCam is located).

With the signal now just coming from the Mele Tower, PineLink will have just a handful of test users in coming weeks, and then more in June after the second transmitter goes up on the Oriental water tower.

Wireless High Speed Internet Coming To The Harbor Areas

One thing many who come to Oriental now ask about is where they can hook up to the Internet. The cruisers stopping in at Oriental may soon be able to go online right on their boats in the harbor.

Sometime during the summer, PINE will be adding ‘hot spots’ which will broadcast signals to the traditional Oriental Harbor and the new Oriental Harbor Marina. The traditional Oriental Harbor signal will actually broadcast from a point adjacent to TownDock's HarborCam (that's upstairs from TownDock.net world headquarters). Visiting sailors and travelers with 802.11 wireless technology already installed in their laptop computers will be able to pay a fee in exhange for temporary access to high speed wireless internet access.

Beyond Oriental

Dates have not been set yet, but the high speed internet service will be expanded in time to the Araphoe, Minnesott Beach, Vandemere, Whortonsville and Bayboro areas.

To expand to each area either a new tower must be built or access gained on existing towers. The Vandemere Fire Deptartment has agreed to allow PINE on their tower. If an agreement can be made with the Arapahoe Charter School PINE will build a tower there to serve the school and the surrounding area.

After a tower is in place, a new transmitter must be purchased and installed in each of these areas. That tower would then receive a signal from the Mele Tower on Kershaw Road which is the main tower in the PineLink system.

Related Links:

PineLink.org