2020 Has Been a Rollercoaster!

Saying that 2020 has been a rollercoaster is probably an understatement. Covid-19 threw the entire world into a panic and the repercussions of its effects on our lives will be with us for decades. In many ways, it forced us to look at different ways to do things and put several technologies on fast forward while putting a hard stop to many things that we took for granted would always be available to us.

The importance of reliable and capable broadband went right to the forefront of issues to deal with. People working from home, students learning from home and everyone trying to stay occupied during quarantine events increased the load on broadband networks 25-50% at different times during the day. Moderate peak hour increases were exceeded by huge increases in demand during daytime hours as more people were using home connections. Any providers that had not been diligent in upgrading their network started to see minor issues turn into bigger ones overnight.

At Vistabeam, several major upgrades had just been completed before Covid hit and we were able to meet the demand. Even after shutting down installs for a period in March, we were met with record demand for new service throughout the rest of the spring and into the summer. As we scaled up to meet the demand, CARES Act funded broadband grant programs were established in Nebraska and Wyoming and we responded with the intention of getting as much high capacity broadband as possible into the areas of those states that we could deliver it to. By mid October, we were as busy as we had ever been, even after onboarding 16 new employees since the beginning of the year.

Then, Covid-19 hit our area. After a relatively uneventful summer and start to the school year with few cases in our region, it took off. I went from not knowing anyone who had it to knowing 20+ people that had it within a week. As we implemented work from home policies and curtailed field work, it was clear that we were not going to be immune from the negative effects of the pandemic.

Our country and world will not be the same, but I hope we are able to figure out positive ways to get through these challenges. This has been a rough year, but humans are resilient and capable and we will figure out how to make the best out of a difficult situation.