Rise Broadband Internet moving into Yorktown

By now, most of you have seen the intensive construction going on in Yorktown. This is the result of Rise Broadband bringing their services to our city.

A representative from Rise Broadband met with the City Council on Friday, February 9 to discuss their plans to bring broadband internet to town. Their decision was to start immediately, which they have done. Weather permitting, they expect the installation period to be completed in under 6 months, possibly as few as 4 months.

Their plan is to work the city in four quadrants, intending to complete one quadrant before moving on to the next. The construction work will be done by boring with minimal surface disruption. When the lines have been bored, they will come back and mount at ground level with what they call a ‘handhold or a flower pot.’ The handhold/ flower pot are the boxes where the lines intersect and these are at ground level so that they can be mowed over.

Citizens can expect there to be as many as 4 to 6 boring units working at any given time, but most likely there will be 2 at a time. These units use upwards of 1,000 gallons of water daily, which the City will be selling to them. The City anticipates that the cost of the water will be $10 per 1,000 gallons.

Rise Broadband will also be leasing a ‘lay down yard’ from the city where they can store parts and equipment safely. This will require approximately 1 acre of land and the City plans to place it behind the gate at the sewer plant. The income generated from this agreement will be about $1,000 monthly.

The attorneys that represent the City are working with the attorneys from Rise Broadband to formulate the necessary agreements. Thye City anticipates a Right of Way Agreement and a Commercial Permit Agreement, with all construction work being inspected by the City’s inspectores, Bureau Veritas.

There will be no Operational Cabinet located in the City, instead, there will be one in Cuero and one in Nordheim. Yorktown will be handled out of one or both of these cabinets. Each of the handhold/flower pots will service 1 to 4 homes and they will be located in the utility easements with the cable being buried approximately 2 feet deep. The trenching for the handhold/ flower pots to the customers homes will be hand trenched for minimal damage to the customers property.

As the cable is being installed, there will be a push to sell the internet service to the citizens of Yorktown by door to door sales, door hangers and social media. Those that choose to pre-register will incur no installation fees, just the monthly cost. Those that do not pre-register will see some level of installation cost should they choose the service at a later date. The base cost will be approximately $50 a month with additional fees based on the speed chosen by the customer. You can expect to see information on this exciting addition to our City on the City’s social media sites.

Rise Broadband will be providing a couple of free accounts to the City and plan to work with the EDC group to see what can be done to help local businesses sign up and receive a benefit from the product.

The company has also agreed to work with the City to sponsor something they ‘need or want’ Since this is something the City could not stop, even if it wanted to, the Mayor says, “This is something we should embrace as it could be a good move for the City of Yorktown.” “The Yorktown City Council is excited the citizens of Yorktown will have options with regard to internet providers. We are hopeful Rise Broadband will provide fast, economical and reliable internet service to all who choose to utilize it.”