When the coronavirus lockdown forced schools across the country to transition to remote learning, many students were left struggling to adapt. Not only did they have to change environments and routines, but many students in low-income households lacked the internet connection necessary to get online. That’s why Tampa Bay Fiber, a subsidiary of internet and telephone provider PBX-Change, stepped up and offered free WiFi to students, families and businesses in need.
“Our business slowed down quite a bit [due to the pandemic],” said Bill Heinz, PBX-Change Vice President. “Since we’re not selling anything new right now, we wondered what we could do to help the community.”
The company started by rolling out work-from-home applications to existing customers free of charge, Heinz said. Then it started offering these applications to non-customers.
PBX-Change often provides 5G networks to large events, such as the Tampa Bay AirFest, where the company was going to provide a two-gigabyte link from downtown Tampa to MacDill Air Force Base. But after AirFest 2020 was canceled, the company decided to use its networking gear for other purposes.
“We were hearing about low-income families that couldn’t afford internet connection,” said Heinz. “Kids had laptops from school but no way to use them.”
Heinz and his colleagues set out to partner with organizations like United Way Suncoast and the Tampa Housing Authority to deliver internet connections to some of their low-income housing developments near downtown Tampa. The system works by sending out a signal from one of the multiple buildings that PBX-Change supplies with internet connection.
“As long as you're in a location that has a line of sight towards downtown Tampa, we can provide some sort of signal to that location,” Heinz said. Although the service is either unfeasible or “an overkill” for single-family homes, “if we can reach a condominium, apartment complex or housing community… we can potentially provide WiFi to that building.”
Launched in 1999, PBX-Change has about 25 employees. In normal circumstances, the company provides all-inclusive internet and telephony connection at an average cost of $40 per person for an office, according to Heinz. But in these tough times, he said the company chose to offer its service to those in need free of charge.
“This service is truly free,” he said. “If there's a business that has problems with internet and we can provide them a few months of service for free with no obligation, we'd be happy to do it. We've got the staff, we have the equipment, we're not really deploying anything for ‘new clients.’”
Heinz’s ultimate focus was on families and students though.
“If we can provide the ability for kids to work and do their schoolwork from home… that would be awesome,” he said
