Wireless extended to Priest Rapids area

PRIEST RAPIDS — The Grant County PUD has expanded its wireless broadband network with new towers at Priest Rapids Dam and the McConihe Flats area north of Moses Lake.

The two towers expand the PUD’s wireless network to seven, said Chuck Allen, PUD public information specialist. Locations for new towers are chosen by the volume of customer requests, he explained.

The new towers provide the potential for higher-speed Internet service to about 370 customers in McConihe Flats and about 30 around Priest Rapids, Allen said. The PUD doesn’t provide retail service to customers. In each location Internet service providers are the retail outlet. A list of them is available on the PUD’s website, Allen added.

Utility district administrators have been working on a fiber buildout around Grant County since 2008, but it’s still in the process of construction. The wireless towers allow the PUD to provide high-speed Internet service to people who live in places where fiber hasn’t yet reached, Allen said.

Along with the two new towers, there are towers in the Quincy and Ephrata areas, north of Moses Lake in the Larson area.