High-Speed Internet Service
Makah Reservation and Neah Bay are situated in one of the remote coastlines in Washington and these places will now have access to high-speed broadband internet service. The high-speed internet service from CenturyLink® that offer speeds between 25 and 40 Mbps will offer reliable internet service to the Makah Tribe.
Chairman of Makah Tribe, Nate Tyler said that the introduction of broadband internet would allow the Neah Bay area to offer improved healthcare, emergency services and education together with faster oil response. “Broadband access will open the door to providing better services faster,” Tyler said. “In order to protect our way of life at Makah, security and safety are paramount.”
As per a recent news release, about sixty percent of the Americans on the tribal areas do not have access to high-speed broadband internet. “It’s a huge step in bringing the Makah Tribe into the 21st century,” said Crystal Hottowe, who leads the tech team of the tribe. The introduction of the high-speed broadband internet was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting, salmon bake, and demonstration of the service at the Makah Community Hall.
Many guests attended the event including the U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, State Sen. John McCoy, Stan Speaks, who is the Director of Regional Bureau of Indian Affairs, and David Throop, who is the administrator of U.S. Coast Guard District 13. Cantwell live streamed the complete event on her Facebook page, which was a salute to the high-speed broadband internet. She described her and McCoy’s vision of offering improved internet access to the Native American Tribes.
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While on the podium, Cantwell recalled the moment at which they decided about this. “We looked at each other and said, ‘We need more broadband access in Indian Country in the state of Washington. Let’s make it happen.’”
McCoy said that the next step is to address dead stops so that everyone on the Makah reservation will be able to participate in the “wonderful occasion.” He has spoken with CenturyLink®, the tribe, and Microsoft on making use of white space t to get rid of dead stops in the internet connection. “We have the players,” McCoy said. “We just need them to say, ‘Yes, we will do it.’”
Neah Bay area is a part of the Connect America Fund (CAF) of CenturyLink® for 2017.
