Internet service provider bringing higher-speed internet to rural southeast Idaho community
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INKOM – A wireless broadband company is bringing its service to a rural community in southeast Idaho.
According to a news release issued Wednesday, Optix, a subsidiary of Direct Communications, is in the process of expanding high-speed internet coverage in Inkom, located just south of Pocatello. Optix says it can offer faster speeds than any provider in the city and hopes to expand further.
“We’re hoping to basically expand all throughout southeast Idaho,” said Tyler Smith, an Optix field service technician.
Before this, Optix operated just in Rexburg, “managing specialized wireless networks for apartment communities,” the release reads. Now, it’s a “comprehensive connectivity partner … powered by a robust fiber backbone from (Direct Communications).”
Now, Optix is expanding its service to rural communities and has identified Inkom as a community in need of faster internet speeds. To do this, Optix ran fiber to one of the towers on Bonneville Peak.
“We noticed that a lot of the other wireless providers in the area did not have the speeds needed, and we want to … be competitive with Starlink and just … provide more of a local option,” Smith said.
According to Smith, most service providers in the area offer only up to 100 megabits per second. Optix, he said, will deliver speeds up to 750 megabytes.
“We go all the way up to 750 (megabytes) with our equipment. We have top of the line stuff,” Smith said.
And Optix wants to go further.
“This is our first big build-out. We’re looking at some more locations near Grace and possibly Aberdeen, Blackfoot. Possibly all the way up in Driggs as well,” Smith said.
Whether or not Optix can provide internet service to a home in Inkom isn’t “always a guarantee.” Optix has to go out and test at a location to see if the area has a clear line of sight to the tower, and some of the site surveys they’ve already conducted didn’t have a clear line of sight.
Smith said they can sometimes address this by adding an extending pole to the property, or running a cable out into the yard and planting a pole there. He also clarified that if a customer is within a mile of the tower, they may not need a perfect line of sight, but being farther than that does.
City Council Member Jason Hooker sees this expansion as a potential benefit to the community.
“We do have some good options there, but I know that there’s always people looking to see what are the best options, both from a speed standpoint and a budget standpoint for their household, so I think that competition usually should be a good thing,” Hooker said.
Hooker also sees this as a potential benefit for current business owners or anyone looking to start a business in Inkom.
“If we have any existing businesses, or even people that want to run a business in Inkom, if one of their bottlenecks has been internet service, and this expands that capability for them, I think that’d be fantastic,” Hooker said.
People living in Inkom who would like to find out if internet service through Optix is available to them can visit their website.