Microwave power? Waves that heat your burritos will get internet to part of Pierce County

In a piece of real-life sci-fi, a special technology will transmit signals through the air to bring high-speed internet to an island less than a mile off the western coast of the Key Peninsula by the end of 2026.

It’s a similar tech to the one used to reheat your leftovers: microwaves.

Less than a mile of water divides the mainland Key Peninsula from Herron Island, a private island that is home to “about 150 full-time residents, several hundred weekenders, and many, many deer,” according to the island’s Homeowners’ Association website .

When the project is done, there will be a tower on the mainland and a tower on the island, each with a microwave dish — similar to a satellite dish — facing each other, according to Jared Sonne, senior vice president of Astound Broadband . The company is partnering with Pierce County to build the infrastructure. The system will run from the Key Peninsula ferry terminal to the island and will convert internet signals into radio waves that travel through the air before reaching homes.

These radio waves fall between the frequencies of 1GHz and 100GHz, making them “microwaves.” And yes, waves that fall within this range are also used in microwave ovens, but at different frequencies for heating things up instead of communicating information.

“For transmitting high volumes of data over shorter distances, what we call microwave is ideal,” Mark Peterson, a public relations representative for Astound Broadband, told The News Tribune via email.

Using technology to transmit internet signals to areas that are more difficult to reach with fiber optic cables isn’t new. Astound has been using a variation of this technology as far back as 2008, but the current technology can handle more traffic than it could before, according to Sonne.

“We use this technology in downtown Seattle, downtown Portland, downtown San Francisco to extend our network from rooftop to rooftop to serve high-rise apartment buildings, and we do that when this technology can handle the capacity that we’re expecting,” he said.

Sonne told The News Tribune Astound is also evaluating the option to build the same microwave technology along the central California coast. The wireless system would allow them to bypass an environmentally-sensitive area and leave it untouched, he said.

For Herron Island, the alternative to microwave technology was building undersea cables to carry signals along the seafloor, which would have been more expensive, challenging and susceptible to damage, according to Sonne.

Astound Broadband is also partnering with the county to bring broadband service to the Nisqually region, with a total project cost of $12.1 million. When completed, it will include 113 miles of fiber optic infrastructure and bring internet speeds of up to 5 gigabits per second to over 3,200 homes, according to the press release .

The county will contribute $7.15 million in ARPA funds and the remaining $4.95 million will come from Astound Broadband. According to Peterson, the Herron Island part of the project will cost about $1.75 million.

The county declared broadband an “essential infrastructure” in 2019 and set aside grant money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in 2021 to expand the service in underserved and rural areas.

On Herron Island, the new network will support “every kind of device you might want to connect with your home WiFi,” according to Sonne. Working from home should be no problem, even if a resident needs to transfer large data files. It will also accommodate multiple streams of high-definition content in the same home and have optimal speeds for gamers as well as uploading and downloading large files.

Currently, the island’s only wired Internet option available is DSL service through the local telecommunications company. DSL, which stands for Digital Subscriber Line, sends data over existing copper telephone lines from homes and businesses, according to CenturyLink . DSL on the island doesn’t meet the government’s minimum standard to be categorized as broadband, according to Sonne.

Jane Howard has lived on Herron Island for about six years and has an office there for her travel business, Islandjane Journeys . She told The News Tribune via phone that current internet access is a “real stumbling block” on the island.

“You can’t really watch a movie without it blinking out (and) you can’t download anything,” Howard said. “I have to go to the beach . . . If you’re on the beach, there are certain areas I can do a Zoom call, but I can’t do it from my home.”

Herron Island is privately-owned and accessible by ferry. It’s closed to visitors except those with a valid guest pass, according to their homeowners’ association website.

Resident Eric Bergson was involved in early conversations with Astound Broadband to bring faster, more reliable internet to the island. He said he ran a survey that indicated over 200 households would be interested in signing up for Astound once it becomes available.

He also guessed that the new internet could draw 20 to 50 families to either move out to the island full-time or extend their stays during the summer and holidays.

Bergson said a few of the ferry crew members were initially concerned about the health risks of passing through the microwave signals traveling across the water. But Astound Broadband assured them that their goal is to set up the signal high enough so that nothing passes through it and breaks the connection.

“Those particular crew members were satisfied that it was safe and they weren’t going to get microwave-cooked,” Bergson said.

Kevin Stamey, Astound Broadband vice president of operations, said engineers are working on the tower designs and wasn’t able to share an estimated height yet. Astound is working with the Herron Island community to ensure they maintain the scenery and respect local laws to avoid putting up “anything that will be an eyesore,” he said.

Residents who live on Herron Island or in the Nisqually region can check the Astound website for updates on construction, and will be notified through digital marketing and mail as the project nears completion, according to Sonne. The Pierce County website indicates it’s currently in the permitting stage.

Sonne said the faster Internet will be available to eligible homes at the end of 2026 at the latest. That’s none too soon, for residents like Howard and Bergson.

“We have had property here since 2007, and have desperately wanted internet since that very day,” Bergson said.