WWest making progress in area

Local company WWest Communications is described as "a telecommunications provider offering broadband, internet, telephone, and streaming TV services." Among these services are fiber-optic plans, which generally offer "higher speeds and reliability compared to traditional broadband connections."

According to CEO Ken Johnson, WWest is currently "bouncing between the Cathlamet area and the peninsula on different projects," which has had some local residents wondering when their area will be fiber-optic ready. "For some bigger projects, we're as much as two years behind, but closing in on it," said Johnson. "It's more time consuming than we thought, but we're doing our best to get it... Some people think because we're available at one spot we're available everywhere, but in order to make the business models work, we needed to be creative in how we built our network, so we might be available in one place and then houses a couple of blocks away we may not be able to reach just yet."

Johnson noted running into problems in one area which forced WWest away from the other and vice versa, as well as hiccups that may arise simply due to infrastructure. "If we're on the backroads, we're going underground, or you would have to go on the poles but then you have to get clearance to do that from the PUD," he said. "Then anything that involves SR4 has to go through the department of transportation (WSDOT). That's a very deliberate process and very expensive for us, so we've been targeting areas where we can get the most people as quickly as possible and cost effectively."

Johnson noted the new wireless network serving Puget Island is not optimized and, since it's a wireless network, WWest needs a tower climber. "Every time we need to add something or adjust, it's a couple of weeks of scheduling," said Johnson. "We're hoping to have that dialed in here pretty soon, but it's also a little challenging because launching from Cathlamet, there is that ridge before you get to the bridge. That and the trees that are growing there can end up blocking signals... It's a very frustrating business to be in, but we're making a good push."

According to Johnson, WWest will be back in Cathlamet over the summer, specifically wanting to get to the populated areas by Columbia St. "Once we get to the Ilwaco Port, we're still a quarter of a mile from connecting the dots there," he said. "Then we'll step back and look at the landscape and pick our next priority projects."

Appealing to the pleas on social media, as well as those calling in and sending emails, Johnson said, "We are by no means done. We just bought a second boring machine. We've been getting it dialed in mechanically but we're hoping to get that back in the fleet by the first of June. Now with that second machine, down the road, we'll able to work in both the peninsula and Wahkiakum County at the same time or we could work both crews in the same place but go twice as fast, if not three times as fast. We're making those additional investments. That's not indicative of us winding down what we're doing. We continue to want to build out and get to all the folks we can. We haven't even gotten to the population density in the town of Cathlamet. We've been taking care of the folks who didn't have a good option as much as we could and then we'll be able to roll back into Cathlamet to start giving those folks a choice and a reliable local option." For more info, visit wwest.net.