LAKEPORT, Calif. – A new Internet service provider launched on March 1 in Lake County and has begun serving the Big Valley area surrounding their offices near Lampson Airfield including downtown Kelseyville, Finley, and areas of south Lakeport and will provide reliable high-speed broadband Internet service throughout Lake County in the coming months.

Lake County Broadband Solutions, or LCBS, which is staffed, funded, and operated by residents who live and work in Lake County, began connecting businesses and residents in the Big Valley area to true high-speed broadband internet with no data caps and no contracts at the first of March.

With the capacity to serve hundreds more customers in the Big Valley geographic area today, LCBS encourages residents needing true high-speed internet to contact them and schedule site survey.

“Our only choice was a satellite-based internet service because we can’t get cable or DSL,” said one of the first LCBS customers who lives near Lampson Airfield. “Our satellite internet had slow speeds and a data cap that we blew through in a few days. Now, thanks to LCBS, everyone in my family can be connected to wifi, at the same time (even our daughter, who constantly streams videos), with no problems whatsoever. We love your service.”

LCBS deploys fiber-fast “terrestrial wireless point-to-point” technology enabling low-latency, high-speed broadband internet service by connecting homes and businesses to hilltop relays without incurring the high cost of digging miles of trenches for cable or digital subscriber line (DSL/phone lines).

To connect customers, a small (12 to 15 inch) outdoor antenna CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) with line-of-sight to a nearby relay station is installed then connected via cable to a small Power over Ethernet wifi gateway inside.

Residents and business customers in Lake County now will have an affordable option for fast, local, and reliable service that gives them the ability to utilize internet-based technologies such as online distance learning for college courses or homeschooling, streaming video services such as Netflix, Hulu, and more, VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), place real-time video calls to family and businesses, upload and share video and photos, subscribe to online backup service, use live and interactive gaming networks like xBox and PlayStation, have reliable service to process credit cards, and provide wifi hotspots to customers - all without data caps or contracts.

Customers purchase their own equipment, then pay for the service plan that meets their needs. LCBS even offers a “back-up” plan, ideal for businesses that want redundancy or vacation homes.

Additionally, a limited number of households on a tight budget with students, veterans or seniors and who qualify and receive CalFresh, a state-run program for low-income people meeting federal income eligibility rules that want to add to their budget to put healthy and nutritious food on the table, can apply for a reduced-rate plan.

LCBS was formed in 2017 due to the continued frustration of the unreliability and lack of true high-speed broadband Internet service (defined at the federal level as 25mbps down and 3mbps up) that continues in so many areas of Lake County.

Business and community leaders approached Andy Nester, who for decades had owned and operated wireless internet service provider (WISP) companies in other parts of the United States (but who now lives here), to start a WISP focused on supporting the needs of Lake County residents and businesses

He enlisted the assistance of Terre Logsdon, who worked for years to address this lack of internet access in Lake County, and LCBS was formed in 2017.

“In 1996, I started one of the first WISPs in the United States using old TV licensed frequencies broadcast from Black Mountain in Las Vegas, NeV. After expanding to several more sites around the U.S., we built a network in the rural and hilly area of Northeast Pennsylvania, and provided a secure network to one of the largest rural health care providers in the country,” explained Nester. “I am honored to bring a better, faster, and more reliable locally-based internet service to my home in Lake County.”

LCBS also recently purchased a small WISP serving Spring Valley, and will migrate those customers to the LCBS network as soon as possible, but is first focusing on the Big Valley area around their offices at the Work Right Building by Lampson Airfield outside of Lakeport.

The company now has the capacity to serve customers in the Big Valley area with service plans that include no data caps, no contracts, and high up and download speeds.

Logsdon, LCBS’ chief operating officer, said local businesses who have trouble running credit cards can say goodbye to the bottlenecks that have been choking business.

“Screaming fast internet is a prerequisite for successful business, online gaming, and access to breaking news,” she said. “Lake County deserves the best and is finally getting it.”

“If you live or work in downtown Kelseyville, Finley, south of Lakeport, and need and want fast, local, and reliable internet service, starting at 40mbps down and 20mbps up, contact us today,” said Logsdon. “If you are in North Lakeport, Upper Lake, Nice, or Lucerne we’ll be serving those areas very soon. Each month or so, we’ll expand to another area to eventually cover all areas of Lake County.”

She added, “I am optimistic about the potential this offers the county itself as telecommuters who depend on Internet speed will now be able to buy homes and work from them – wherever that is in Lake County. This should increase the tax base and the domino effect is immeasurable. This has the potential to improve school funding, increase funding for local community projects, and help out in a county dramatically affected by destructive wildfires and flooding in the past few years.”

Because the technology LCBS deploys requires line-of-site to transmit the very low-power signals, there are some homes and locations that will require additional relay points – which may mean a neighbors’ rooftop or hilltop – to get service to their home.

“If we can’t get to you today, we’ll get to you as soon as we can - even faster if you can get your neighbor signed up as well,” Logsdon explained.

To request service, go to the LCBS Web site at www.lcbs.co or www.lakecountybroadbandsolutions.com, click on any of the “Get Connected Now” buttons, and fill out the information that will provide LCBS with a preliminary site evaluation and put your address on the deployment map for service.