With the Pend Oreille PUD holding the time honored distinction of being the first PUD to construct a major hydro-electric facility, we followed the tradition of being one of the first PUDs to construct and provision for operation of a cellular tower. Talk about exercising local control.  The communities of Metaline, Metaline Falls, and the recent home of Tech Cominco, reviving the Pend Oreille Mines for operation, were not afraid to inform local officials that they felt left behind without access to cellular services.  In 2004, with an incredible cooperation among the communities, Tri-County Economic Development District (TEDD), Economic Development Council, Five Star Enterprise, the Kalispel Tribe, the PUD, and Pend Oreille County, we sought and were awarded a significant grant/loan for our broadband plan, which included cellular and other wireless services for the north communities of Pend Oreille County.  The generous grant/loan package was received from the Community Economic Revitalization Board (CERB), the state's only economic development infrastructure program targeted to support business and industrial job growth in partnership primarily with rural communities.

Two flavors of wireless were selected to serve the coverage area.  The most prevalent is what is known in the scientific circles as 802.11b (pronounced 802dot11) or simply Wi-Fi (an acronym for the Wireless Fidelity).  This technology, operating in the 2.4 Ghz range, is a line-of-sight (LOS) solution, and it can be unforgiving.  For example, a tree blooming in the Spring can eliminate your service until Fall.  If the foliage did not completely degrade your signal, a good dose of fog or rain can temporarily disable service.  The other wireless deployment choice the District made was a system that uses a lower frequency, 900 Mhz, and it can be a non-line-of-site solution (NLOS) with limitations.

For the pilot program, we selected a proprietary non line of site system called Waverider ™. (http://www.waverider.com/)  .  A prediction plot, a guide to determine successful deployment locations, was generated with the proposed antenna located at District property in Ione.  This plot assists in determining the likelihood of success in provisioning the equipment from the requesting consumer.

Be assured the District embraces the challenge of keeping informed of the emerging technologies that may one day play a pivotal role in enhancing our rural utility needs.

Fiber-to-the-premise (also known as Fiber to the Home, and generically as FTTx), in the majority opinion of broadband industry leaders, is the ultimate solution, if it can be afforded, that essentially can provide unlimited bandwidth.  This is probably true, as fiber is a medium that passes light with little loss or attenuation.  A colorful example is of a copper cable required for an antenna on wireless equipment.  Te cable is advised to be less than fifty feet in length because of the dramatic loss, whereas fiber can carry the same bandwidth signal across seventy miles with very little loss.

There is little argument that extending fiber will be an expensive endeavor, at the same time, consensus abounds that it is the ultimate solution.  What better way to wrap our arms around the difficulties and successes of fiber by actually deploying a pilot fiber to the premise solution.  Diamond Lake, besides the aforementioned advantages, had both a rural and urban setting, was not served by parties offering broadband, and had the possibility of retail service providers offering cable services over the fiber.