It's really happening, high-speed internet in Shoshone County

KELLOGG — If there is one thing that locals in the Silver Valley can agree upon, it’s that there is a definite issue when it comes to the internet.

Fortunately, a new option has recently begun filling orders and is working to expand their reach from one end of the Valley to the other.

J&R Electronics, the internet provider who recently contracted with the Shoshone County Courthouse, is now accepting residential and business customers in Kellogg and Wallace.

Unlike many other providers in the area, J&R doesn’t use cable lines or DSL for their service, but instead uses microwave technology for their service.

Microwave Internet uses equipment similar in size and shape to a satellite dish, but because fixed microwave is terrestrial-based and not a satellite in space, the speeds are faster and more stable.

“Basically we are a wireless provider, but our wireless is an extension of fiber,” said Jim Lemm, J&R owner and president. “We can go from the fiber to our high capacity links and then distribute that to the customer.”

According to company vice president Ian Caldwell, the company plans to bring speeds as fast as 60 mbps (megabits per second) to residents in the area with other options available for businesses.

“I’m on our service at my house in Hayden, and it’s a very consistent 25 mbps and the technology is very similar to what we’re using here, but the difference is that I’m 15 miles from our site and over here, in most cases, we’re only going to be a mile away from a site or less. The closer you are, the more bandwidth you can have.”

Both Lemm and Caldwell have been hearing things throughout the Valley concerning the internet, things like reliability and data capping.

The reliability is big as locals have been dealing with spotty and inconsistent service from current providers, while other folks who have tried satellite internet have been disappointed by the service have a certain limit on the amount that the service can be used.

J&R promises that they are different.

“We don’t have service quotas or caps,” Caldwell said. “The cool part about the tech that we deploy, was that we wanted to be very reliable and very high capacity. We didn’t take any shortcuts.”

They’ve also built in their own way of being exceptionally reliable, even if the equipment over here should malfunction.

Should something like that happen, all of their customers’ service will be re-routed to their tower on Mica Peak, which would result in potentially slower speeds, but the service would remain active.

“We have, really, the only redundant connection over here,” Lemm said.

With access points currently at the former Kellogg Middle School, on Salinda Ridge, and on top of Silver Valley Fitness, Wallace Jr./Sr. High School and the Shoshone County Courthouse, they are currently serving the Kellogg and Wallace areas with the intentions of moving into Smelterville and Osburn hopefully by this summer.

“We have a roadmap for sure,” Caldwell said. “We’re not doing what we’re doing and then just stopping. We’re going to continue.”

Despite being a Rathdrum-based company, J&R Electronics has deep roots in Shoshone County as Lemm grew up on the east side of the county in the Mullan/Wallace area, his parents owned J&R and operated it out of a warehouse in Downtown Wallace before moving the business to Osburn.

Initially selling radio systems for various county entities, as the mining industry began to fold, they moved the company to Kootenai County, where they are still based today.

Jim Lemm and Ian Caldwell are also upcoming guests on the SNP NOW Podcast, be sure to check out the full interview when it drops.

For information about internet service with J&R Electronics, call them at 208-687-0700.