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AT&T customers and FirstNet subscribers across Harlan County recently received a boost in their wireless connectivity with the help of seven new cell towers to improve 4G-LTE coverage, which gives both locals and first responders faster, more reliable service. The new towers are located in Baxter, Cawood, Coldiron, Cranks, Totz and Wallins.

“The addition of these seven new towers in Harlan County is part of our investment in the community to expand and enhance our existing mobile network,” said AT&T’s spokesperson. “And with the launch of fixed wireless internet service, a new option for internet service will be available to even more Kentucky families and small businesses.”

According to a press release from AT&T, the towers also include equipment to enable Fixed Wireless Internet service. This innovative service delivers an Internet connection with download speeds of at least 10Mbps and upload speeds of at least 1Mbps.

The connection comes from a wireless tower to a fixed antenna on a customer’s home or business. This is an efficient way to deliver high-quality, high-speed internet to customers living in under-served rural areas.

The towers used to provide this service are connected using AT&T fiber optics. AT&T has nearly 1.5 million strand miles of fiber optics covering Kentucky, which enables the company to offer a wide variety of products and services delivering the high-speed connectivity Kentucky businesses and residents need.

“This is a great day for East Kentucky,” said Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley. “In today’s world, high-speed connectivity is vital to our workforce and economy. I’m excited to see the investment and growing interest in bringing enhanced connectivity to our rural Kentucky communities.”

Amy Scarborogh, regional director of external affairs for AT&T in Kentucky, said AT&T understands the importance of staying connected.

“We’re committed to providing our customers fast, reliable, highly secure connectivity and the network expansion in Harlan County is a result of that commitment,” Scarborough said. “We’re always working to provide better coverage and we’re investing in our wireless network to accomplish that.”

These upgrades will also benefit public safety and first responders on FirstNet – public safety’s dedicated communications platform. FirstNet is bringing public safety communications into the 21st century with new, innovative capabilities to help those users stay safe and save lives.

FirstNet is built with AT&T in a public-private partnership with the First Responder Network Authority. It’s designed to help first responders in Kentucky and across the country connect to the critical information they need – when they need it – so they can keep themselves and the communities they serve safer.

AT&T invested nearly $800 million in its wireless and wireline networks in Kentucky between 2016 through 2018. This drives upgrades to reliability, coverage, speed and performance for residents and business customers.

Additionally, AT&T has coordinated with communications providers, the Kentucky Department of Education, and every school district across the Commonwealth to extend fiber-based, high-speed internet to all 172 school districts in Kentucky. This helped establish connectivity speeds that allow Kentucky to be the first state to meet a national benchmark set in 2012 and offered a clear indicator that there is fiber-optic infrastructure in every county in the Commonwealth, according to the press release.

To check availability and pricing, visit att.com/fixedwireless.