Efforts to bring better mobile connectivity in Oceanside continue.
Cell signal coverage improvement
The project passed yet another milestone by our technology partner - final selection and approval of the tower site location.
While the company that builds the tower "owns" the project and timelines, our team will continue supporting our technology partner through project completion by facilitating information exchange and flow of ideas between all partners/stakeholders - private and public.
Public Wi-FI
With quotes for equipment, installation and ongoing support expected to be finalized by the end of July, we started compiling documentation required to apply for grants to build and run free public Wi-Fi network in Oceanside. In the coming weeks, we also will be reaching out to Oceanside businesses and organizations (ONA, OCC, OPS) as well as to County and State partners to provide letters in support of our project.
Once the documentation package is complete, we plan to apply to different federal, state and private programs.
One of such grant opportunities resides within Tillamook County grants that are funded by TLT (Transient Lodging Tax) collected by the county, as Public Wi-Fi will have very pronounced positive and long-lasting impact on convenience, but more importantly on safety of Oceanside visitors and locals alike. We will apply once the current year application period opens this Fall.
Oceanside Enhanced Emergency Communications capability in times of long-term power/internet outage
Every year Oceansiders experience power outages that last for hours, or even days. While the County and TPUD work diligently to minimize outage occurrences in the area, the community is not guaranteed to have uninterrupted electric power service in the future.
Moreover, in case of a natural disaster affecting power distribution infrastructure (earthquake/tsunami), Oceanside will be left without power for a very long period of time. No electric power means no wireless communications or internet connectivity, as many of the uninterruptible power supply solutions are not designed to sustain networks for prolonged periods of time without grid power.
We are looking to alleviate this problem by building upon the proposed public Wi-Fi network to allow mobile connectivity in Oceanside (even if at a degraded level of service) using satellite technology (Starlink) for backhaul traffic.
