Connecting California: Gonzales’ small-city leap to universal broadband a model for others – Desert Sun

The small city of Gonzales brought universal broadband to its 9,000 residents by inking a deal with a telecommunications company that has a vast cell network, Joe Mathews writes.(Photo: Getty Images)

If California is really the global tech capital, why is it so hard for our small towns to get the Internet service they need?

One answer to that question is in Gonzales, a Salinas Valley settlement of 9,000.

While Californias biggest cities now struggle to provide Internet access for people to work and study from home, Gonzales solved that problem a few months ago. Before the pandemic hit, the town offered broadband service, free of charge, to all its residents. The story behind this rare achievement Gonzales is the first Central Coast city to do this offers lessons about power and how communities can beat the odds.

Gonzales leadership is not a surprise. The town, surrounded by fields, is a small wonder, with low crime,innovative health services, extensive supports for children, and a diverse industrial base employing local residents.

But even for a nimble city, securing broadband has been difficult. Gonzales long path to universal broadband suggests how hard it will be to turn temporary Internet measures of the pandemic like Googles hotspot donations or short-term service discounts into long-term bridges over our digital divides.

When Gonzales started its broadband quest, in 2005, Internet service was slow and unreliable, and municipal officials couldnt get service providers attention. So city officials joined the Central Coast Broadband Consortium and started visiting the San Francisco headquarters of Californias Public Utilities Commission to press for rural broadband.

At some PUC meetings, Gonzales was the only city represented. The small town didnt have much leverage until officials discovered how to advance their case for rural broadband by protesting corporate mergers and acquisitions.

In 2015, when Charter Communications sought to merge with Time Warner in a $78 billion deal, Gonzales moved to block California from approving Charters acquisition of Time Warner and Bright House cable systems, on the grounds that the deal wouldnt help small towns. Charter was forced to negotiate with Gonzales, which dropped its opposition after Charter upgraded the towns Internet, bumping Gonzales upload speeds from 1 Mbps to 60 Mbps, and download speeds from 5 Mbps to 100 Mbps.

A tech backbone was in place, but access to the Internet at home still remained a problem for many poor families.

On my visits to Gonzales, I often saw kids sitting outside McDonalds, Starbucks or even City Hall, using the free WiFito do their homework. In 2017, such scenes inspired the city to approve a strategy for achieving Universal Broadband for All.

Gonzales asked for proposals from Internet providers, and then rejected them all as insufficient. Instead, the city began individual negotiations with providers.

T-Mobile proved well-suited for Gonzales' needs. The company has a program called EmpowerED to get students online. T-Mobile has a dense network of cellular towers in the area providing coverage to drivers on the 101.

The T-Mobile/Gonzales partnership was approved by the City Council last October. T-Mobile upgraded wireless Internet infrastructure, and donated 2,000 Wi-Fi hotspotsone for every city household.

The city, not residents, pay monthly service charges, at a discounted rate of $12.50 monthly per household device. The total annual cost to the Gonzales government is $300,000 paid for with general fund revenues and a special sales tax approved back in 2014.

Anyone presenting proof of residency in Gonzales received a hotspot; so did households outside the city who attend Gonzales schools. Since COVID-19 forced shutdowns, the city has offered drive-by service for equipment pickups. Residents tell me the devices are already activated when you get them, so they are easy to use. Grandparents sing the hot spots praises, and college students from Gonzales, now back at home, say their city Internet connections are better than their campus ones.

They work really, really well, even with all the people suddenly online Google docs, Google Classroom, Zoom, are all working, says Gonzales High senior Isabel Mendoza, 17. Before, because we have 5 people in my house, and a number of electronics, the Internet was really slow.

Ren Mendez, the longtime city manager, has been fielding calls from other towns asking for broadband advice.

I think this is doable across the state, Mendez says, if cities push Internet providers to make deals that mix new broadband investment and cost-sharing. Why cant you provide broadband for the whole community, just like you do with sewer and water and streets?

Of course, it should be much easier for poor towns and people to secure Internet in California, which invented our tech world, than it was for Gonzales. But the city doesnt dwell on past struggles its moving forward.

Gonzales deal with T-Mobile is for two years, but its renewable. City officials are planning a trip to T-Mobile headquarters, and plotting the next chapter of universal broadband. It starts with 5G.

Joe Mathews(Photo: Courtesy)

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column forZcalo Public Square. Email him atjoe@zocalopublicsquare.org.

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Connecting California: Gonzales' small-city leap to universal broadband a model for others - Desert Sun