by Jacob Espinoza

For most of my life in Salem, picking an internet provider meant picking the one you disliked least. That changes this year. Hunter Communications, a fiber company out of Medford, is spending $50 million over four years to run fiber to Salem homes, neighborhood by neighborhood. That's according to CEO Michael Wynschenk, who told me about 6,000 Salem homes can order service today and the goal is 10,000 to 12,000 more every year.

Before I sat down with Wynschenk for the What's Happening Salem Podcast, I asked you on Instagram what you wanted to know. You asked about price, low-income options, Starlink and when it gets to your street. Here's what I found out, from that conversation, Hunter's own announcements and its website. The full episode is coming in a separate email.

The number that stuck with me wasn't a speed. It was 20,000 to 25,000. That's how many Salem homes Wynschenk estimates qualify for Oregon Lifeline, a state and federal program that takes up to $24.25 a month off an internet bill for qualifying low-income households. You qualify if someone in your home is on SNAP, Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income, or if household income is at or below 135% of the federal poverty line, about $42,000 a year for a family of four. Hunter is approved by the Oregon Public Utility Commission to offer it, and Wynschenk said about 12% of Hunter's customers statewide use it.

"If it's not affordable, it doesn't matter," he told me.

He also said the big cable and phone companies already in Salem don't promote Lifeline much. If you think you qualify, Hunter's Lifeline page walks through the application. Hunter also offers discounts for veterans and active military and K-12 teachers. The website doesn't list the amounts; you sign up, then email proof to customer service.

Most of Salem runs on cable at roughly 250 to 350 megabits per second, by Wynschenk's recollection. Fiber is a different animal. "We go up to eight gig, over eight gig, which is more than what some hospitals have," he said. Hunter's website lists speeds up to 2.5 gig with a standard install, so ask what's available at your address. Either way, the upload speed matches the download, and that's the part cable can't do. It matters if you send big video files for work, run two Xboxes and a laptop at once, or have a kid who swears the lag cost him the game. Mine do.

Hunter's website lists free installation, a free router, no contracts and no data caps. I didn't get a monthly price on the podcast. It depends on the plan and your address, and you can check both here.

Several of you asked about Starlink. Wynschenk's answer, which is a competitor's answer, was that satellite makes sense where fiber will never reach. In a Salem neighborhood, he said, the monthly cost lands within $5 to $10 of fiber, with slower uploads and no technician to set it up. Friends of mine who've tried both say roughly the same.

Hunter started where the telephone poles are. Its first Salem homes were in the northeast neighborhoods, Salem Reporter reported last year, and the company's announcements name Grant, Highland, Morningside and Faye Wright as early areas. Wynschenk said the company has split the city into 16 zones and is working with the city, PGE and Salem Electric on the order.

Here's the part you can influence. Wynschenk said Hunter picks which neighborhoods come next partly by how many people register interest online. In some southern Oregon towns, he said, 11% to 12% of residents signed up before a single truck arrived, and those towns moved up the list. Anyone in Salem can register. Do it here.

Hunter started in 1992 as an eight-person contracting crew in southern Oregon, pulling cable for hospitals, hotels and the cable companies themselves, until the founder decided to build his own network. Wynschenk became CEO in January 2020, two months before everyone went home, and the company pivoted from wiring offices to wiring houses. It has since bought providers in Eugene and McMinnville and, per its March announcement, serves about 35,000 customers with about 260 employees. Wynschenk spent his career in telecom, including Frontier, BendBroadband and Verizon, and sat on the Boys & Girls Club board when he lived in Bend. He told me Hunter plans to partner with the Boys & Girls Club of Salem and Family Building Blocks, donating a portion of each new Salem sign-up to both.

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and Wynschenk spent more of our hour on kids online than on fiber. He told me about watching his daughter, a middle school drama teacher in Colorado, run a rehearsal where the 12-year-old lead was magnificent. The girl walked offstage, checked her phone and fell to her knees crying. His daughter took the phone, brought the mom in from the parking lot, and later told him only: "Dad, you don't want to know."

Reading from notes he'd brought, he cited Common Sense Media research: 1 in 4 kids has a smartphone by age 8, 42% by age 10, and 51% of middle and high schoolers report online harassment. I checked the one I could find quickly. Common Sense's 2021 survey put smartphone ownership at 42% by age 10, so that one holds. The worst of it, he said, is AI-generated fake images of classmates.

His advice, which Hunter also hands out on fliers at neighborhood association meetings:

"You force your kids to put a helmet on when they're on a bike," he said. "This is that next phase of protecting children."

I've had that talk with my 6th and 8th graders. After hearing those numbers, I'm having it again this week. Ten weeks of putting off a 10-minute conversation isn't a trade I want to make.

What should I ask Hunter next? Reply to this email and I'll add it to the list.

This story was presented by Hunter Communications. Check whether fiber is available at your address here, or register interest if it isn't yet.