New Tlingit & Haida wireless tower in Wrangell will help close coverage gap
- Larry Persily
- Jul 25
- 2 min read
Wrangell's newest wireless internet and cell tower has been set in place and, when it is operational, is intended to improve sketchy service for some customers around 3- and 4-Mile.
It is the first tower installed anywhere in Southeast Alaska under the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida's Tidal Network.
The regional tribal nonprofit has been working to develop its wireless internet network since it received a $50 million federal grant in 2022.
Tidal Network already leases space on two privately owned towers in Wrangell - at the north end of the island and at Shoemaker Bay - and has been operating its transmitting and receiving equipment from those towers since late last year.
Unlike wired internet service, however, mountainsides disrupt a wireless signal, and the new tower at 3-Mile is intended to broaden the service area for users between downtown and the tower at Shoemaker.
"We have a dozen or so early subscribers," getting service from the two towers, said Chris Cropley, Tidal Network director.
When the third tower starts broadcasting and receiving "in the next couple of months," Cropley said, Tlingit & Haida will increase its efforts to sign up more subscribers.
With additional towers going up around Southeast, the network needs to decide on a bulk order for its transmitting and receiving electronics so that all of its sites have the same equipment, he said.
The network currently charges $89.99 a month, with a download speed of 25 Mbps, with unlimited data. The price includes an outdoor antenna, which the Tidal Network will install, and a Wi-Fi router for the home.
The monthly fee is the same as GCI's lowest-cost internet plan, but the Tidal Network download speed is significantly slower.
GCI transmits through fiber optic and coaxial cable. The Tidal Network signal is wireless, similar to cell phone service.
Though the wireless technology is the same as what people use for their cell phones, and people can use Tidal Network for Wi-Fi calling with their phones, Tlingit & Haida is not in the phone business and people will still need a cell phone provider to make calls.
More information is at tidalnet.com.
Tidal Network purchased the 3-Mile site and held a groundbreaking ceremony of sorts in February when it started clearing and preparing the land for the 120-foot-tall, steel lattice tower.
Tlingit & Haida plans to install between 20 and 30 towers in Southeast communities, Cropley said. Tidal Network is willing to lease out space on its new tower for other wireless providers, he said, much as it leases space on the two Wrangell towers owned by other parties.
"We budget a million dollars for each tower installation," he said, noting that the actual tower "is the cheapest part." Buying the land, geotechnical work to prepare the site, putting in fill where needed, running a power line and the electronics mounted on the tower all add up.
Anchorage-based STG Inc., which has installed communications towers across the state, is the contractor on the Wrangell job, Cropley said.
• This article originally appeared in the Wrangell Sentinel.
