Residents of Summerdale may soon have a new choice when it comes to internet service providers: Point Broadband.

Todd Holt, CEO of the company, and Sherry Sullivan came to speak to the Summerdale town council at the April 10 meeting to discuss possibilities for the town.

“We put antennas on water towers to provide better internet to rural and suburban America,” Holt explained. Holt also explained the parent company of Point Broadband, ITC Broadband, is a faith-based organization.

“So, when we operate in a community, we give 10 percent back in our community by asking our customers to tell us local charities or local nonprofits to donate to,” he said. “In addition, we’ve asked city leaders to identify two areas within the municipality where we can put free Wi-Fi hotspots. We would love for Summerdale to allow us to utilize the water tower to provide good internet service to the community.”

Mayor David Wilson said the service could be up and running in about four to six weeks and Point Broadband would tie into Southern Lights fiber optics. A contract would also be worked out for water tower service.

Members of the audience as well as council members had questions about the service rates and the radius this internet would serve.

“Typically, in a community, we offer a 10-megabyte service and a 20-megabyte service,” Holt said. “The 10-megabyte service can run $58-$60 a month, and the 20-megabyte service can be $85 to $88, maybe $90 in some areas, but that’s it. We don’t require a contract, so we believe if we don’t live up to our customers’ standards, they should be able to fire us with no questions asked, no hassle.”

Holt said users can utilize as much internet as they need with this service.

“You don’t have to worry about running out of usage or getting throttled back,” he said. “We also don’t ‘nickel and dime’ our customers. No extra for a modem or router; we don’t charge anything extra. When we say it’s $58, it’s $58.”

Holt also mentioned the service is not marketed ‘up to 10 megabytes,’ it is always 10 megabytes, or whatever you choose.

If a consumer needs more than 20 megabytes of service, Holt said Point Broadband can go up to one gigabyte of service (if you are in view of the water tower) and those prices can be given on a custom basis.

If your home or business cannot be seen from the water tower, Holt estimates the service will stretch from two to six miles from the tower.

There is a $99 installation fee for residential customers and $199 from commercial customers.

Wilson said right now the only internet providers in Summerdale are Southern Lights and Century Link.

“I think this is an opportunity, personally, for another company to come in and offer a service to the people of Summerdale that they can choose from,” Wilson said.