Paul Bunyan Communications continues to make progress on its broadband expansion across parts of Itasca and St. Louis Counties.

Status of Paul Bunyan Communications Broadband Expansion projects

Itasca County:

City of Coleraine- Construction is in progress with 25% completed

City of Bovey- Construction will start once completed in Coleraine

Bearville(s) Township- Waiting on easements.  Construction hopefully can still take place this year

St. Louis County:

Sandy (except east side) & Wouri Township- Construction is done, fiber splicing has started.  Services should become available by September

Sandy (east side) and Pike Townships- Construction in progress with 35% completed

Alango & Owens Township- Construction in progress with 80% completed.  Services should become available by September.

Angora Township- Construction will begin once it is completed in Alango and Owens Township

Balkan Township- Construction expected to start in September

French Township- Construction expected to start in September

Great Scott Township & unorganized township north of Great Scott- Construction expected to start in September

Once the network is operational in a project area, customers who signed up for service will be contacted to schedule service installations.

Sign Up Now to Ensure Fiber Optic Connection
Residents and businesses in these expansion areas are encouraged to sign up for service now, before construction crews move on to ensure the fiber optic connection is brought up to the location. That can be done online at www.gigazone.com, by phone, or in person at our Grand Rapids Customer Service & Technology Center.

Services Available Upon Completion
Once the network is live, customers will have access to Paul Bunyan’s GigaZone® services, including high-speed fiber-optic Internet with speeds up to 10 Gig and dependable, low-cost unlimited local and long-distance GigaZone® voice services.

Our offices will be closed on Friday, July 4 in observation of the Independence Day Holiday.  Our regular office hours will resume on Monday, July 7.

The recent storm that struck the Bemidji area has been devastating and our cooperative headquarters, like so many other homes and businesses, sustained some damage. Nonetheless, our fiber network, which is primarily underground, has remained operational throughout for those with power and/or unaffected by storm damage.  Our Bemidji Cooperative Headquarters is open for business, as is our Grand Rapids Customer Service & Technology Center, with regular office hours of 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

However, some members may still experience outages as the recovery effort continues that are caused by fiber optic cuts, power issues, or damaged equipment.

Important Safety Reminder:
If you plan to remove uprooted trees or dig on your property, please call Gopher State One Call at 811 before you begin.

Many utilities—fiber optics, electric, gas, water, and more—are buried underground. Hitting a buried line can be dangerous and may result in further service interruptions.

Please also use caution and watch for utility pedestals when removing storm debris. They are part of our network and can easily be damaged or pulled out if you’re not careful.

PBTV Customers:
You may notice some intermittent channel outages, even if your area wasn’t directly hit by the storm. While we’ve realigned several satellite dishes, a few were left with unstable foundations. This may cause dish movement during windy conditions and temporary service disruptions until full repairs are made.

If your power has been restored but your internet or TV service is still out, please call us at 888-586-3100. In most cases, services will resume automatically when power is restored unless additional damage occurred.

Our entire team—technicians in the field and staff behind the scenes—has been working tirelessly to restore service and support our members. We’re incredibly proud of their commitment and thankful to everyone showing patience and support through this difficult time.

Please stay safe and know that we are here for our members.  We will continue to monitor the situation and address any outages as they arise as quickly as possible.

We proudly serve rural areas of Park Rapids and invite you to join us Thursday, June 26 for  Park Rapids 2nd Street Stage in downtown Park Rapids from 6-8 p.m.

Enjoy the music of Walking Phoenix and be sure to stop by our table to pick up a free gift while supplies last. There is also a beer garden and door prizes.

Bring your own lawn chair and we’ll see you there!

Please note that our offices will be opening at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 19

That is 1/2 hour later than our regular opening time of 8 a.m.

Our offices will be closed on Monday, May 26 in observation of the Memorial Day Holiday.

Paul Bunyan Communications will be expanding its all-fiber optic network the GigaZone®, to over 3,000 more locations in Itasca and St. Louis County this year with several different projects.

Cities of Coleraine and Bovey in Itasca County

Includes over 500 locations

Areas of Angora, Alango, and Owens Townships in St Louis County

Includes over 300 locations in areas south of the city of Cook.

Areas of Balkan Township in St. Louis County

Includes over 550 locations north of the city of Chisholm in areas of Balkan Township.

These two projects are made possible through the Low-Density Population Grant Program through the state of Minnesota. This project is estimated to cost $7,526,055, with the State of Minnesota’s Low-Population Density Program grant contributing $5,569,281. Paul Bunyan Communications investing $1,881,513, Angora Township $33,104, and Balkan Township $42,157.

Areas of Pike, Sandy, and Wuori Townships

Includes over 645 locations. These areas are primarily South and East of Britt

Areas of French Township in St. Louis County and Bearville(S) Township in Itasca County

Includes over 200 locations East and North of Side Lake including Perch Lake, Luna Lake, and Beatrice Lake.

These two projects are made possible through the USDA ReConnect 3 Grant Program. This project is estimated to cost $13,588,555 with the USDA grant contributing $10,191,416. Paul Bunyan Communications investing $3,381,112, and Wuori Township contributing $16,026.

Areas of Great Scott Township and unorganized township north of Great Scott Township in St Louis County

This expansion includes over 350 locations in areas of Great Scott Township and an unorganized township north of Great Scott.  This includes Dark Lake, Clear Lake, Lake Fourteen, and Lake Leander.

Construction will take place over the summer/fall with services expected to be available by winter. Anyone interested in getting connected to the all-fiber optic broadband network should sign up for service now. That can be done online, over the phone, or in person at our Grand Rapids Customer Service & Technology Center. To check to see if a specific location is within an expansion area, visit www.gigazone.com

The cooperative’s services will become available once the network is operational including GigaZone^™ Internet with speeds of up to 10 Gig and low cost unlimited local and long distance GigaZone^™ voice telephone service. There is no membership fee to join Paul Bunyan Communications, membership is gained by subscribing to local phone service or GigaZone^™ Internet service.

Paul Bunyan Communications is excited to announce that we will be expanding our all-fiber optic network the GigaZone® to over 800 more locations in the cities of Coleraine and Bovey this year.

City of Bovey

Includes over 350 locations and construction is anticipated to start in late summer/early fall

City of Coleraine

Includes over 480 locations and construction will start in mid-May.

Construction will take place this construction season with services expected to be available by winter. Anyone interested in getting connected to the all-fiber optic broadband network should sign up for service now. That can be done online, over the phone, or in person at our Grand Rapids Customer Service & Technology Center. To check to see if a specific location is within an expansion area, visit www.gigazone.com