Stanton resident Susan Wurdinger wanted to keep the same broadband internet plan after the pandemic hit, but it didn’t work.
Wurdinger’s daughter, a high school senior, tried to use their service for remote learning, but her connection from Stanton Telecom wasn’t strong enough at 3 megabits (MB) per second, she said.
Stanton Telecom was one of the several broadband companies around Northeast Nebraska that issued discounts and internet speed upgrades to help rural students who were learning from home.
Wurdinger was able to get an upgrade from 3 MB to a 100 MB plan, she said.
“It would keep cutting out on us and delaying; she couldn’t keep up with the work,” Wurdinger said. “It was a couple weeks after when I heard about the higher upgrade, and I figured we needed a higher speed. It really helped us out because she needed Zoom without it cutting off.”
Stanton Telecom started to offer a free broadband internet upgrade to all customers who requested one after school buildings closed, said Colleen Paden, business office manager. The company received a wave of requests in the weeks that followed.
About 150 households have requested an internet speed upgrade since, she said.
“There were many students and some in college that were home who contacted us and we gave them a free upgrade. They still have those speeds, but in the middle of June, we will notch it back,” Paden said. “We wanted to make sure students had high-speed internet, because some families have lots of students in the home with devices they needed to use.”
The Northeast Nebraska Telephone Co., which serves 30 communities and is based out of Jackson, implemented a 30 gigabit per month credit for all students who requested it on March 16, said Melissa Lanzourakis, marketing manager.
It was the first time the company has ever issued a student discount, she said. About 1,500 students around Northeast Nebraska claimed the two-month credit.
“It’s a tough time, and we knew that internet usage would be up, which it was,” Lanzourakis said. “We are also looking to implement something this year for home-school kids, because it was brought to our attention that kids are learning from home and we want them to be able to learn from home.”
The company’s internet usage jumped 25% because of the pandemic, she said. The increased usage was also due to the mobile hotspots that were installed in 22 communities where the company had equipment to support the connection.
While broadband companies are offering upgrades and discounts, some rural families still weren’t able to receive service.
About 5% of Hartington-Newcastle’s students didn’t have internet access, said Superintendent A.J. Johnson.
Although this isn’t a large number, it’s still a group of students missing interaction and it takes them longer to learn, he said.
“Some students in our district have internet providers whose rates made it difficult to attend class,” Johnson said. “One of the companies did offer more access, but it still wasn’t enough; they charged for usage and not a flat rate and some couldn’t afford the usage. Those kids were offered more paper learning, and all of our kids had Chromebooks, so we recorded lessons and hand-delivered them on flash drives.”
Norfolk-based internet provider Stealth Broadband worked with school districts throughout the 15 communities it serves, said Kira Buol, business development manager.
The company has been extending two months of free service to new and existing customers. Stealth Broadband worked with school districts to give students the free internet depending on whether they were in the coverage area, Buol said. If the student wasn’t in the area, they were referred to a different broadband company.
Stanton Community Schools didn’t have many students with internet access problems, said David Cunningham, Stanton High School principal.
“We thought we were going to have to go out and buy some hotspots and get creative, but when we got down to figuring out who had it and who didn’t, we were pleasantly surprised,” Cunningham said.
Like the Northeast Nebraska Telephone Co., Stealth Broadband and Stanton Telecom said they will look into offering more discounts to students in the fall if remote learning continues.
Buol said she’s seen a large increase of people in rural areas needing high-quality internet access since remote learning and working from home started. The key is for companies to keep working to serve rural families, she said.
“It’s been crazy. There’s been a huge influx in subscribers the past two months,” Buol said. “In my opinion, there’s pretty much coverage everywhere, but how good is it? As far as (our company) goes, we are constantly expanding and trying to find new places to serve. For people who call us, we put them on the waiting list and look to expand in those areas.”
