The Ely Timber Jay reports…

While emerging springtime has area residents prognosticating again about the most likely day for ice-out on Lake Vermilion, Cook residents have something else they’re looking forward to – the completion of the high-speed fiber Gigazone broadband network being installed in the city by Paul Bunyan Communications.

The company ran into a snag last fall with supply chain issues that left them without the equipment necessary to complete the project before winter. But the equipment has now arrived, and some residents who signed up early and had fiber already run to their homes have been connected and are enjoying blazing fast speeds of up to 10 gigabytes.

The company recently hosted a sign-up event at the Cook Hospital, and according to Brian Bissonette, the company’s marketing supervisor, the turnout was strong.
“I checked in with the team that went and they said it was wall to wall,” Bissonette said. “It was nonstop – our crew from start to finish didn’t have a free moment. It wasn’t a meeting where we answered questions and things, we did that on a personal level. They were just able to go to the Cook Hospital and sign up for services that day. It was really successful. The word is starting to spread.”
The base level of Gigazone service available is 250 megabytes, with additional options ranging up to the 10-gigabyte maximum, Bissonette said. Because the network is fiber-based, upload speeds are as fast as download speeds, something that will accommodate many of the needs for high-speed fiber broadband revealed by the COVID pandemic, such as distance learning, telemedicine, media streaming, and working from home, Bissonette said.