Astound, a recognized leader in internet, Wi-Fi, mobile, TV, and fiber-optic solutions, has begun service with a new high-speed internet medium for thousands of homes and businesses in western Washington, including areas surrounding Woodland.
Astound is investing $4 million in the internet expansion, according to a press release. Astound is focused on rapidly deploying fixed wireless broadband to several regions of Washington and Oregon, including some areas that currently lack direct access to fast, reliable WiFi and internet. Fixed wireless technology is engineered specifically to overcome the barriers of rural geography and poor legacy infrastructure, the release added.
On Aug. 5, 29,000 homes across Longview, Kelso, Castle Rock, Woodland, and in other rural areas of northwestern Washington and Columbia County, Oregon, gained access to reliable internet and WiFi with speeds up to 1gigabit per second.
Astound plans to offer a total of 40,000 homes and 5,000 businesses in predominantly rural areas of western Washington and Oregon the internet service. The 11,000 remaining homes and 5,000 businesses will launch by year-end, Astound states.
Jared Sonne, senior vice president and general manager of Astound on the West Coast, says the next-generation fixed wireless internet service runs off of Astound’s existing fiber network, which presently limits where they can connect a cell tower. The system works to improve itself, as well, Sonne pointed out.
“It also protects against signal interference,” he said. “Because it is self-optimizing, if there’s interference in the signal, it’ll find a new route and connect. It’s really amazing technology. We’re looking to expand this not just in Southwest Washington, but we’ll actually be deploying north of Seattle later this year. We have a couple of areas identified in California that we’re going to likely deploy in the next six months, and we’re looking at parts of Oregon.”
Currently, expansion is based on areas near Astound’s current network. Sonne said the service is destined to expand in Southwest Washington in the future.
“I would say certainly that is a possibility because essentially what we’re doing is we’ve launched in these areas where we’ve already had fiber built to towers, access to towers, permission to put our equipment on those towers,” he said. “I think expanding to other nearby areas would involve assessing those options, like where’s the nearest tower to Battle Ground? Who owns that? Could we, do we, have network near there? What would it cost to get our network there, etc. … It’s definitely something that I see us evaluating and moving out from the existing network.”
Sonne pointed out the close proximity of cities like Battle Ground and said the area surrounding the city is within the range of where Astound could evaluate to see if they could serve the area.
Sonne explained that the connection is home to the tower by connecting the base node to a remote node with fiber internet running to the tower and producing the wireless speeds from there.
Unlike mobile-based or satellite options, it delivers fast, low-latency, professionally installed broadband that performs reliably in real-world conditions involving dense trees, hills, or long distances from fiber hubs. This initiative is part of Astound’s broader commitment to bridge the digital divide and deliver connectivity to communities that have long faced limited options.
Coverage areas currently include:
Pricing is currently locked at $60.00/month with a 3-year price guarantee, whole home WiFi equipment included, unlimited data and no contracts, the release stated. For qualifying households, Astound also offers affordable internet packages through its Internet First program, designed to support qualified families, seniors, students, and veterans.
For more information and updates about Astound’s new WiFi network and service areas, visit astound.com/wifi-internet.
