Linda Pond and Kevin Godden live in a beautiful home along Redwood Retreat Road in Gilroy. The only thing they would change, if they could, is the abysmal phone and internet service. Their home is less than ten miles from downtown Gilroy, but it might as well be off the grid. Pond and Godden say they have put up with service providers’ unkept promises, been stuck with paltry data plans, and suffered with internet performance akin to the days of dial-up modems.
“ Frontier finally put fiber in, but only came up our road as far as the junction box about two miles away,” Godden added.“ We’ ve learned to work productively from home by being resourceful. Even when it comes to home entertainment, ours has not been a twenty-first century experience. We have to download a movie overnight in order to watch it the next day. Netflix isn’ t even an option.”
And they’ re not alone. People living in various parts of South County, many of whom work in Silicon Valley, still lack access to broadband services like high-speed internet, reliable cell phone service, and video-on-demand that are enjoyed by their neighbors just a few miles away.
Pond and Godden said things are looking up since they met Judd Wood, co-founder of Bullet Wireless, a Wireless Internet Service Provider( WISP) launched in 2017. They said Wood came out to their property and offered a solution customized to their needs.
According to Wood, Bullet Wireless fills the gap created by other service providers that have left residential and commercial customers either underserved or unserved in terms of having broadband access.
“ Along Watsonville Road, Paradise Valley, Hecker Pass, and areas in San Martin, people suffer,” Wood said.“ Not just private homeowners, but wineries and ranches. We go where Charter and other service providers can’ t or won’ t go. We conduct onsite visits and ask people how they use the internet, because usage varies widely.”
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