Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Faster and more affordable internet will come to the upper Chilkat Valley by as early as 2028, Alaska Power and Telephone (AP&T) announced at the end of last month.

The company next year will begin construction on a fiber optic cable connecting Klukwan and upper valley residents to the faster service in town. The project is expected to take about five years.

AP&T last month secured a $33 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to build the fiber optic network that would increase internet speeds, allow for more data transfer and lower costs in Klukwan, Mosquito Lake, along Haines Highway and in Dyea near Skagway.

The company will pay more than $11 million to match the grant, but the project could reduce consumer costs by as much as $120 a month, said Jason Custer, AP&T vice president of business development.

Mosquito Lake resident Julie Korsmeyer said the neighborhood’s community center “would benefit greatly with stronger and faster internet. We could more effectively do Zoom meetings in the winter and we have created a business center there with access to a computer and a copier.”

She said the highest tier currently offered by AP&T in Mosquito Lake isn’t strong enough for multiple people in a household to be working online or streaming at the same time.

“When my son was up here and he was working, nobody could do anything else,” she said. She also noted that residents could benefit from online learning with better internet connection. Virtual platforms that colleges use require a strong connection.

“A lot of times you have to take tests online and if you lose your connection in the middle of the test they’re going to flunk you because they’re going to think you’re cheating,” Korsmeyer said.

Korsmeyer and her partner Bill Jurewitz are on a waiting list to install high-speed satellite internet through Starlink, operated by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. That service hasn’t been rolled out in Alaska yet but could be available as soon as next spring, Korsmeyer said. It requires several hundred dollars in start-up costs, though.

Currently the highest download speed offered out the highway is 25 megabits per second (mbps), enough for one person to stream Netflix or make a Zoom call with the clearest picture. The fiber optic network will bump up AP&T’s highest offering to 200 mbps, matching the top tier for residents in the townsite.

AP&T also anticipates the higher connection capacity will substantially reduce costs. The equivalent speed of a plan that now costs $199.95 per month in Klukwan will be $79.95 per month with fiber optic connection. The top plan, 200 mbps download speed, will be $229.95.

AP&T in 2016 installed an $11 million, 86-mile undersea fiber optic cable connecting Haines and Skagway to Juneau, enabling faster connection and reducing costs in town.

Upper valley internet access currently operates via copper wires. Fiber optics, thin strands of glass that transmit data through light rather than electricity, have much higher capacity than copper. Custer said the fibers are hair-like, and the cable will look like a long line of licorice.

Compared to copper-based internet, he said, “it’s like riding a bicycle versus driving a Ferrari.”