LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A Minnesota-based company brings high-speed internet service to areas of the Las Vegas Valley that are largely ignored by major providers.
Kwikbit Internet identifies itself as an industry disruptor. On Saturday, the company was at the Pueblo Del Sol Mobile Home Park located between Nellis Boulevard and Boulder Highway.
Over 22 million people live in mobile home parks in the USA. If it were a state, it would be the third largest state in the United States. However, they have terrible internet. “Not on average, almost exclusively bad internet,” said Joe Costello, CEO of Quickbit.
The company began offering affordable Wi-Fi services during the pandemic, as remote learning kids and telecommuters struggled with quality Internet access.
Kwikbit was in Pueblo Del Sol to convince residents to ditch their current internet providers.
It offers speeds up to 1GB with the same speed for uploads and downloads. The cost is $50 per month and $20 if clients achieve a certain income threshold.
The show attracted Pueblo del Sol resident Robin Jones.
Robin Jones said, “I’m on a fixed income, I’m retired.” “Either I pay the extra third, or half of the amount, or twice as much as I originally went for.”
Once someone signs up for Kwikbit, it usually takes employees about an hour to an hour and a half to install it.
Residents also do not have to make the down payment until May and there is no contract.
Some internet companies don’t service mobile home parks, which ends up affecting residents like Jones.
“If they neglect us as a population, they miss out on a lot,” Jones said.
Kwikbit is currently in eight states and at another mobile home park in the Las Vegas Valley.
The infrastructure bill passed by the US Congress in 2021 invested $65 billion in financing broadband.
However, Joe Costello said government agencies are too slow to act.
“Nobody has to go without good internet today. There’s no excuse. We can make it happen today. We can make it happen economically and very quickly. It’s not something that has to happen 10 years from now,” Costello said.
Kwikbit does not require the installation of fiber optic cabling. It only takes three days to install the equipment that can connect mobile homes to Wi-Fi.
