CLEARFIELD- Broadband service in Clearfield County was one of the topics of conversation at the Clearfield County Commissioners meeting Tuesday.
The discussion began when a resident of the Old Erie Pike area spoke about living in a “dead zone” for internet and cell service and how they have been waiting for fiber optic broadband service for several years.
She said she and her husband had looked into Starlink, and even had trees cut down to provide the line of sight, then learned Verizon was making progress towards installing fiber optic cables, but there is still no word on when it would be available.
Commissioner David Glass has been taking point on this matter for the county as the chair for the technology committee of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. He said there have been grants provided and Verizon bid on some of that money for this area, but then suddenly everything went silent.
Glass said he was tired of waiting for movement and was finally able to get a meeting with a representative of Verizon, and while they couldn’t give him a firm date on when things would be up and running, the plan is to have everything up and running by the end of 2026 and perhaps even this year.
Verizon is focusing first on areas in the most need, such as the West Decatur/Erie Pike area, and Glass said he has a list of addresses that are considered a priority.
While Glass cannot release all of the addresses due to privacy, he said if anyone emails him and asks about their address, he will be able to check and confirm if they are in one of the priority areas.
Glass’ email address is dglass@clearfieldco.org
