WHEATLAND – Cooperation from local residents enabled a local broadband service provider to restore service to a total of 18 businesses and residences in the Wheatland area. The Visionary Broadband customers were without internet - and some without phone service - from April 3 - 6. Visionary Broadband teams were all-hands-on deck to resolve the power-related issue stemming from an inability to satisfactorily access the tower in its original location. The Visionary crew hand-built a communication tower in 24 hours, after residents Frosty and Tara Adams agreed to allow the tower to be located and accessed on their property.

Following temporary restoration of service, the team determined the Adams’ location was ideal for the tower, and Visionary approached the couple Saturday inquiring if they could set it up and restore service as quickly as possible.

“We thought it would be a good thing for us to help the community and to help people get back their ability to communicate,” Frosty said, adding a lot of people rely on internet to communicate – even first responders and emergency services. “It’s tough when you don’t have it.”

“I thought the Visionary crew was professional and good to work with. When you live in a small community, you’ve got to help each other out. This (agreeing to the tower) made sense,” Tara said.

The Adams are also allowing Visionary to connect into the WREA power source on their property, thus freeing up Visionary from installing a solar generator to power the newly constructed tower.

A statement issued during the outage by Greg Worthen, head of community affairs, said, “Community partnerships are a driving force behind our work, and we couldn’t be more appreciative of our newly formed partnership with the Adams to ensure Wheatland customers get back up and connected as quickly as possible. I’m proud of our team who worked around the clock and extremely grateful for good neighbors like the Adams, who made this possible.”