New-Member Freeze Extended through February (Speed-Level Freeze Extended as well)
Why We Are Extending the Freeze
In its last meeting, the LCWA board of directors decided to extend the new-member freeze through February. This freeze was first announced in November, and at that time we targeted January for resumption. The freeze was put in place due to the extreme and ongoing increase in internet demand due to COVID-19, and how that is taxing our system.
Why this new extension through February? We have been diligently working to upgrade backbone radios and core internet feeds throughout the LCWA network, but we are not yet reaching the capacity we need. One reason is because we are hitting some blocks on making certain upgrades. For example:
- One main project is to increase the core bandwidth we purchase. But we have experienced repeated delays from our providers to make that happen. They are overwhelmed too.
- Also, due to COVID restrictions on access to state-owned buildings, we have been delayed in planned upgrades at our main switching facility to enable a greater internet feed.
Those delays are slowly getting cleared and we hope to have a primary feed increase within 90 days, hopefully much sooner. And we continue to diagnose and upgrade localized radio bottlenecks throughout our backbone network as well.
In the meantime, to support existing members in their established internet delivery, we are continuing the new member freeze. We do not want to add more demand until we are confident we can deliver.
The same was decided regarding the freeze on speed-level increases for existing members—that will be extended through February too, to prevent increases in demand.
The only exception we are making to creating new memberships is if an existing member sells their house. In that case, the incoming new owner can continue the service (as a new member). This holds true as long as the previous rooftop radio is left behind. Same applies to rental units.
We’ll keep you posted on our progress on backbone upgrades, and whether we feel the capacity increases have reached a point that we can release the freeze.
