Technical Assistance
 
East Texas Broadband Initiative
  1. How much will the project cost?
  2. Who will pay for it?
  3. Will this project cause my taxes to increase?
  4. How long will it take to become substantially completed?
  5. How long for it to become fully completed?
  6. Will I get assistance to buy a computer?
  7. Will the service be in my area?
  8. How much will the service cost?
  9. How is this different from the City of Longview's application for Broadband through Google?


East Texas Broadband Initiative
Question: How much will the project cost?
Answer:

It will take several more weeks before better estimate is achieved but today, it is estimated that the project costs could be $25M - $35M dollars per COG, depending upon many variables.
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Question: Who will pay for it?
Answer: A mix of federal, regional, county and private funding.
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Question: Will this project cause my taxes to increase?
Answer:
The COGs have no authority to increase taxes. The anticipated benefits of this project are that much of the project costs will be offset by grant funding and by lowered future costs for services.
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Question: How long will it take to become substantially completed?
Answer: Approximately 2 years from our start date.
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Question: How long for it to become fully completed?
Answer: Approximately three years from our start date.
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Question: Will I get assistance to buy a computer?
Answer:
No, the grant funds that are being leveraged do not allow for any individual PC purchases. Grant funds are available under the Public Computer Center program for libraries, recreation centers, churches, etc.
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Question: Will the service be in my area?
Answer: We have developed a service concept map for the application process. This is subject to change.
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Question: How much will the service cost?
Answer: It is not currently known what the costs will be for the end-user customers. The build strategy will involve third-party vendors to finish-out the “last mile” of network to individual businesses and residents. These last mile carriers will determine pricing in each of their service areas.  
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Question: How is this different from the City of Longview's application for Broadband through Google?
Answer:
The City of Longview is one of several municipalities across the country that is requesting Google to consider the city for a experimental high-speed internet project. The project is funded by Google and would bring internet speeds of over 1 gigabit per second as a paid, commercial service. The Google Project is not federally funded and is being selected at the sole discretion of Google.
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