Remote surveillance trailer in Isleton, CA

ISLETON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--unWired Broadband, a leading high-speed Internet provider in California, announced today the launch of their high-speed Internet service in Isleton, CA. To deliver this service, unWired has constructed a telecommunications tower in the city, equipped with state-of-the-art fixed wireless technology from Tarana Wireless that offers up to Gig speeds. This partnership will bridge the digital divide in a region that has been severely underserved by Internet service providers. Residents and businesses alike now have access to high-speed Internet in Isleton and the surrounding areas.

Headquartered in Fresno, CA, unWired has been in the business of connecting underserved communities across Central and Northern California since 2003. Their product offerings include both fixed wireless and fiber technologies, ensuring they can engineer the right connectivity solution for the mission. Their robust fixed wireless Internet network boasts over 200 towers across twenty counties. unWired’s fiber product NextGen Fiber will also be fully deployed in three California cities by the middle of 2025. Named Best Internet Service Provider by The Fresno Bee for three consecutive years, as well as Best Customer Service, unWired has a proven track record of excellence.

“We're thrilled to bring high-speed Internet to the residents and businesses of Isleton,” said Matt Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of unWired Broadband. “Our partnership with Tarana Wireless allows us to deliver cutting-edge technology, creating more economic opportunities within the community. We’re excited to be a part of Isleton’s better, more connected future. This is a significant step in our mission to connect underserved communities across California."

"unWired Broadband and the City of Isleton formed the best possible win-win alliance to bring reliable high speed Internet to our beautiful but isolated community in the heart of the Sacramento Delta,” said David Kent, Isleton City Councilmember. “To our residents, Internet access means opportunity and unWired believed in the value of our partnership in facilitating new opportunities. As a result, our mutual zeal and cooperation led to a successful outcome, moving Isleton from behind to ahead in digital technology."

To celebrate this exciting milestone, unWired Broadband, in partnership with the City of Isleton, Valley Vision and Tarana Wireless, will be hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony for their new tower on December 11, 2024 at 1pm. The event will begin at the unWired tower site (100 6th St), with a reception following at the Isleton Community Center (208 Jackson Blvd Ext). Remarks will be made by several executives and local officials. Members of the media and public are highly encouraged to attend and representatives will also be available for media interviews.

To learn more about unWired Broadband, you can visit getunwired.com.

About unWired Broadband

unWired Broadband is the leading Internet provider for rural and underserved areas in Central and Northern California. Their network includes over 200 towers connecting communities that have been ignored by cable and fiber Internet providers. Since their inception in 2003, they have expanded their connectivity suite to also include redundancy solutions, a data center and most recently, fiber Internet.

About Tarana

Tarana’s mission is to accelerate the deployment of fast, affordable internet access around the world. Through a decade of R&D and over $400M of investment, the Tarana team has created a unique next generation fixed wireless access (ngFWA) technology instantiated in its first commercial platform, Gigabit 1 (G1). It delivers a game-changing advance in broadband economics in both mainstream and underserved markets, using either licensed or unlicensed spectrum. G1 started production in mid-2021 and has since been embraced by more than 250 service providers in 24 countries. Tarana is headquartered in Milpitas, California, with additional research and development in Pune, India. Learn more at www.taranawireless.com.

Contacts

Cherish Stockdale hello@getunwired.com

The city of Isleton is embarking on a two-year pilot program that would pay property owners up to $10,000 if flood waters reach a pre-determined height.

ISLETON, Calif. — The small Delta town of Isleton is the first-and-only in the state, so far, to pilot a new community-based flood insurance initiative.

It’s a partnership between the Department of Water Resources, California Department of Insurance, UC Davis PhD candidate and researcher Kathleen Schaefer and the Delta Region Geologic Hazard Abatement District (GHAD), which was formed about two years ago to address flood risk and flood insurance in the city of Isleton.

“Less than half the people who live in Isleton have flood insurance, and they have a very real flood risk. So if something were to happen, it could be catastrophic both for the individual and for the community,” Schaefer told ABC10.

Isleton has a population of about 800 people. It’s located on land that’s entirely surrounded by rivers and sloughs, meaning people who live there at the mercy of levies.

Iva Walton owns Mei Wah Beer Room on Main Street and moved to Isleton a decade ago.

“Second year I lived here, the water got right up to the bank over there, looked like maybe a foot below it,” she said, gesturing to the levy right next to her property. “I was very nervous, but my neighbor was like, ‘Eh, don’t worry about it. I’ve seen it higher.’ So I trusted her and we got through it.”

Walton is also on the city council and chair of GHAD.

“Our risk is fairly low in a sense. We’re still living on a river and anything is possible,” Walton said.

Long-timers in Isleton remember the devastating flood of 1972, when one of the levees surrounding the town broke, ushering in feet of flood water.

Isleton’s mayor Pam Bulahan was nine years old when her family had to quickly evacuate. She told ABC10 she remembers seeing waves of water rushing across fields toward town. The flood displaced her family for two years as they rebuilt.

Just recently, the California Department of Insurance announced Isleton is the first-and-only city in the state piloting a new community-based flood insurance initiative, funded for two years by a $200,000 grant from the California Department of Water Resources and implemented by GHAD.

Schaefer said the pilot involves buying a community-wide flood insurance policy, and if flood waters reach a certain level, all property owners in town will automatically get a pay-out — up front — of up to $10,000 to spend on whatever they need in the immediate aftermath.

“It would be a nice assurance that you're not just stuck — well, I can't say ‘high and dry,’ but ‘low and wet.’ You're not just stuck, you know? So there'd be a way to start taking care of yourself, your family and your property,” Walton said. “Hope to never experience the pay-out, but it’s good to have if we do have that kind of disaster.”

Project leaders hope to buy that policy with the grant money by the end of the year.

“We want to learn from this so that we can perhaps deploy it throughout the Central Valley,” Schaefer said. “We've been having conversations with the Department of Water Resources and the Department of Insurance to extend the program to 35 small communities in the Central Valley that have a small community flood risk reduction study.”

For now, the pilot is grant-funded, but Isleton voters will decide next year whether to continue to fund it through property tax.

Leaders of this pilot project are still working out the details, like how and whether to include renters in this insurance policy. That and more they’ll be working on in the coming months.

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