AWARDS – THE CORNERSTONE AWARDS

1. PCs for People / Dominium

Recognizing Dominium’s determination to level the broadband playing field at Austin-area Stoneridge Apartments, partnering with PCs for People, which utilized existing fiber over coax to retrofit the affordable housing complex with free community-wide Wi-Fi and in-home broadband.

JUDGES COMMENTS:

PCs for People / Dominium utilized existing fiber over coax to retrofit the 13-building affordable housing complex with free community-wide Wi-Fi and in-home broadband. In a true case of doing well by doing good, Stoneridge, whose occupancy rate had dropped to 50 percent when COVID hit, now stands at 90 percent. “Going to free Wi-Fi was the icing on the cake,” says Dominium

2. City of Pharr, Texas

Saluting the South Texas border town’s do-it-yourself spirit and resolve to create an affordable citywide fiber network to enhance educational opportunities and attract business to a locale once named the worst connected city in the country.

JUDGES COMMENTS:

Pharr, Texas for its do-it-yourself spirit and resolve to create an affordable citywide fiber network to enhance educational opportunities and attract businesses. Pharr, once labeled the worst connected city in the United States, is now about one-third to one-half of the way to connecting all its citizens to affordable, reliable high-speed broadband services.

3. aSteamVillage / William Wells

Honoring the astounding efforts William Wells and his student workforce at aSteamVillage have made to expand high-speed, reliable internet service to their district in Kansas City, setting up and running a network and even stringing the fiber for their users.

JUDGES COMMENTS:

William Wells and his student workforce at aSteamVillage expanded learning center focused on STEM subjects, plus art. District 3, where aSteamVillage is located, is the poorest area in a city rich in internet resources in its other districts. Thirty-one percent of the people in District 3 don’t have access to the internet. The answer to providing internet to his neighbors, Wells, a trained engineer decided, was to provide the network himself. And the people he used to make that possible are the kids who attend aSteamVillage. His group of 13- and 14-year-olds came in and did the work, setting up and running the network themselves and even stringing the fiber for their users. Please welcome the truly remarkable William Wells.

4. Myakka Communications / DZS

Celebrating the partners’ delivery of symmetrical gigabit “broadband to the boonies,” after major local carriers said it would be decades before they brought broadband services to the rural southwest Florida town of Myakka City.

JUDGES COMMENTS:

With all the talk about the difficulty of connecting rural America, Myakka Communications and its decade-long technology partner DZS is delivering symmetrical gigabit “broadband to the boonies” after local telephone and cable carriers said it would be decades before they brought broadband services to the rural southwest Florida town of Myakka City. Not that it’s all been easy. Just ask Myakka Communications President Charles Matson about his “adventures” in fixed wireless and Florida’s notorious summer thunderstorms – and the havoc wreaked on the system’s wireless transceiver and on the company’s bottom line what with having to replace a number of $1,800 transceivers after lighting strikes. “Maybe there is a reason no one else is doing this in Florida,” Matson thought about his first attempt to bring decent internet to his community. But he persisted, and today Myakka Communications boasts a 100 percent fiber optic network, with a 95 percent take rate.

5. Vistabeam

Honoring the service provider’s creation of the Vistabeam Empowerment Center in Torrington, Wyo., where residents can get assistance from a full-time digital navigator with ACP paperwork, digital equity issues and digital skills and training as well as access a community meeting room with video conferencing capabilities.

JUDGES COMMENTS:

Vistabeam Internet, a pioneering wireless service provider with coverage that spans an incredible 40,000 square miles across three states and 100 towns in rural Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming. On its website, Vistabeam states it “believes in maintaining connections with our community.” Today we are honoring the service provider’s creation of the Vistabeam Empowerment Center in Torrington, Wyoming, where residents can get assistance from a full-time digital navigator with ACP paperwork, digital equity issues and digital skills and training as well as access a community meeting room with video conferencing capabilities. It’s Vistabeam’s first such center, but hopefully not its last.

Outstanding Multifamily Partners Award

6. Scott Casey, President & CEO, ROVR Score

To a groundbreaking advocate and collaborator who is deeply appreciated in the multifamily broadband world.

JUDGES COMMENTS:

For being an outstanding force in helping owners and developers understand the tangled web of choices when it comes to broadband service decisions. Scott advocates for multifamily owners in every way possible by working with providers at a consultative level so that they can better serve developers, owners, and residents. He is changing perceptions and closing gaps by providing data needed to measure broadband services, ensuring that owners receive their services as contracted. Scott has spent much of his life in the multifamily business and has constantly been the most valuable person in every role he has served.