“No one wants to live where there is no broadband.”

Overcoming that is one of the objectives that the Botetourt Broadband Commission (BBC) apparently is taking to heart. And with that and other Internet frustrations in mind, the commission is moving forward with a “broadband summit” this fall.

The BBC met for the second time Friday morning in Fincastle where new member Arleen Boyd outlined a proposal for the broadband summit that the BBC hopes will set the table for increasing affordable high speed Internet and data capacity for all Botetourt residents and businesses “in the near future.”

Boyd’s outline speaks of showcasing the county and perhaps the possibility of making Botetourt “A Pioneer Rural Smart County” that marries people, technology, commerce and the appreciation of natural resources.”

Another objective of the summit is to attract “the most advanced broadband deployment providers.”

The summit would be a forum to inform and engage local businesses and residents as the BBC goes about developing a plan that can be implemented to improve broadband service countywide.

The BBC established a committee to work on the summit— essentially a committee-of-the-whole that will meet again June 7 to begin working on the nuts and bolts to set up the summit.

During its meeting, the BBC got an overview of what Lumos Networks provides in Botetourt from Diego Anderson, senior vice-president and general manager for the company.

He said Lumos, now under new private ownership, intends to invest $7 to $8 million in Botetourt over the next 10 years that would bring Internet speeds up to 25mb. More immediately, the company is expanding fiber cable into the Flowing Springs and Eagle Rock areas this year.

The company also is involved in a testing trial with fixed wireless that could provide community WiFi in the Town of Troutville right now.

That trial is being conducted in Troutville Town Park where users can get up to 100mb of speed. The company is interested in mounting the service on the town’s water tank that would allow broader coverage as well, and will appear before Troutville Town Council at its June meeting to discuss the possibility.

Anderson told the BCC Lumos has fiber that reaches 10,000 addresses in Botetourt, and 3,400 addresses with speeds up to 1gb, and 4,000 with speeds up to 100mb.

He also said the company would like to partner with the BCC to expand its service.

One of the challenges BCC members noted is that providers haven’t communicated well with the community about what service is available and where it’s available.

One member noted that while the infrastructure (fiber) may be available, the actual service may not be.

County Adminstrator Gary Larrowe wondered about the Lumos timeline of 10 years to invest the $7 to $8 million in the county. “Ten years is a generation,” he said, and asked if the company would “frontload” the investment.

Boyd noted that technology advances rather quickly. “We don’t want to be a generation behind,” she noted.

Anderson said fiber is the backbone for broadband service and that’s what the company wants to invest in. “We want to use fiber and other technology to support the ‘smart community,’” he told the BCC.

In discussing the possibility of access to 5G broadband wireless, Lumos technical lead David Smith told the BCC that 5G “will take a lot of infrastructure.”

Smith said a Next-Generation Passive Optical Network (NG-PON), that essentially provides the “last mile” of broadband service, requires a lot of fiber, Smith said.

BCC Chair Mac Scothorn wondered, though, what technical changes would come over the next 10 years.

“The key is to push fiber,” Anderson said. “Expand it and use the underlying technologies.

The BBC also got an update on changes to the state code that affect how the county approves wireless (cell) communication towers. County Attorney Michael Lockaby outlined those changes and told the BBC the county will be working on its own code changes to deal with the new laws.