Internet service launches new 'ring of towers'

FOSTORIA --- Watch Communications is introducing faster and more powerful internet service to northwest Ohio. On Wednesday, Watch Communications hosted an open house at the Fostoria BANKquet Hall to educate the public about the new services they are bringing, and today they will host another open house in Willard at Loyal Order of Moose. During the open houses, customers are encouraged to ask questions and discover the new services of Watch Communications. The events include representatives from the human resource department, sales department, dispatch and pricing departments. "A lot of people have smaller, fixed wireless providers that can only offer 25-50 (megabits per second)," said Deanna Disney, director of sales for Watch Communications. "So, we're coming in much higher than them. We'll allow homeowners in this area to be able to do (many) more things. They can stream, they can work, and honestly, with everything going on with schools now, you can do e-learning." Watch Communications has recently launched a "ring of towers" consisting of seven, new, high-speed internet service towers both in cities and rural areas of northwest Ohio. So far, Disney said towers have been implemented in Risingsun, Fremont, Steinberger, Bascom, Tiffin south, Arcadia, Arcadia east with additional ones coming toward the Findlay area. Each of the new service towers offers 400 mbps (megabits per second.) Additionally, Watch Communications offers 100, 200, 300 and 400 mbps packages with "true unlimited data." "The nice thing about our service compared to other services that are in the area is there may be fiber, but from what I've been researching a lot of the fibers have data caps in the area, which we do not," Disney explained. "Ours is completely unlimited." Watch Communications has towers throughout Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. They have been investing in northwest Ohio, which is why they have launched the new towers and will continue launching them until the end of May, Disney said. After this, Watch Communications plans to continue building more towers throughout all of Ohio. They would also like to link their Indiana and Ohio fiber services together within the near future. "Our older technology has run its course—people need more speed, people need more access," said Chief Operating Officer of Watch Communications, Tommy Della Rocco. With infrastructure investments and grant money, Watch Communications has begun to rebuild its network to bring true high-speed internet with unlimited data, Della Rocco explained. Families that use Watch Communications will have a consultation with a Watch Communications member, who will help individuals determine the best internet package for that specific family. Through the ACP (The Affordable Connectivity Program), from the FCC (Federal Communications Commission,) qualifying families can apply to receive an additional $30 off their monthly internet bill. "Rural is our business," Della Rocco said. "We hire local people, our service people are local (and) our customer care people are all midwesterners." "That's one thing I like about Watch Communications, is we're not going to stop investing," Disney added. "We've always gone with the newest technology that can do best for the rural community." "I'm proud of what Watch has done over the last few months," she said.