'Public safety net.' Is reliable phone service at Wellfleet ocean beaches coming in 2024?

WELLFLEET — Between Maguire Landing at Lecount Hollow and Cahoon Hollow Beach lie two miles of what is usually sandy paradise for thousands of summer visitors.

What it doesn’t have is internet connection or reliable cell phone service — and that has been a public safety concern for officials and beachgoers for years. When Arthur Medici was attacked and killed by a great white shark in 2018, someone had to run to the parking lot to get a call through to 911.

A town committee hopes to change all that before the start of next year's summer season. The four members of the Cable Internet and Cellular Services Advisory Committee are working on a plan to bring a fiber optic connection to Maguire Landing at Lecount Hollow, and White Crest and Cahoon Hollow beaches.

“There’s nothing like this on the Outer Cape," committee member Josh Yeston said at the Oct. 17 committee meeting. "It will be a flagship for how we deploy a larger public safety net on the beaches.”

The three beaches targeted first for the project are owned and operated by the town of Wellfleet but part of a miles-long stretch of ocean beaches from Provincetown to Chatham.

How would the service work?

The hard optic lines would allow people to use Wi-Fi rather than cell towers to make calls. It would enable better communications with police and fire departments, and it could help with dark spots in cell phone service — those areas where calls are dropped without warning.

Yeston, Steven Kopits, Larry Marschall and Heather Doyle make up the advisory committee, which was reconstituted in March. By early April, the committee had prepared a grant proposal for town administration, which was awarded in July. Since then, the all-volunteer committee has been working to find the right approach to the project.

Why is it difficult to get cell phone service to the Outer Cape beaches?

Kopits called the project basic, but with plenty of wrinkles. Decisions still need to be made about the necessary infrastructure, potential partners and associated services. How should a fiber optic line be brought out to the beaches? What would long-term maintenance and contingency costs be? Even details like Wi-Fi receiver durability have to be considered. Conditions on the beaches can be harsh, especially in the winter.

“The scour coming off the beach can take the paint right off a car,” Kopits said, "so we need equipment that will hold up."

There is a lot of work ahead of them, but the committee is optimistic.

“We think this is going to be a unique contribution to Wellfleet,” Kopits said, “but we have to bring it in on time, on budget, and ensure that it's working properly.”

What about Newcomb Hollow Beach?

Might there be other applications that can tie into the network in the future? Is there a possibility to connect properties along Ocean Drive? Might the town be able to connect to bayside beaches eventually?

Additional funds for internet projects will soon be available through the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, providing new opportunities for Wellfleet and other Massachusetts municipalities. Identifying and securing funding for these initiatives is a mandate of the committee.

"As soon as we finish our current project, we'd love to bring fiber optic cable to Newcomb Hollow, our fourth beach and the site of the great white attack on Medici," Kopits said.

Who is working on the Wellfleet committee?

Doyle has been working to make the beaches safer since Medici’s death. She helped establish the Cape Cod Ocean Community, a nonprofit whose goal is to use technology to keep beachgoers safe from sharks.

Doyle is also a member of the Cape Cod Technology Council board of directors. It was there she learned about a state municipal fiber grant program that helps municipalities build and/or complete a municipal fiber network. Soon after, she helped establish the committee, and actively sought out members. The committee grew organically from there, she said.

Yeston brought his entrepreneurial and financial background to the group. Marschall, a retired academic, and Kopits, who has decades of investment banking and consulting experience, also joined. In just eight months the members applied for and received the $200,000 grant. They've spoken with Bourne and Shutesbury town officials about how they used similar grant funds.

"For Wellfleet to get $200,000 to do something on the beaches is huge," Doyle said.

The committee is talking to potential project partners, including OpenCape, which has a fiber backbone running along Route 6. Committee members are discussing the milestones they would have to hit along the way to get the project completed in time, including due dates for physical plans, permitting and ordering equipment.

Denise Coffey writes about business and tourism. Contact her at dcoffey@capecodonline.com.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Reliable phone service at Wellfleet ocean beach by 2024? Here's how.