by Sharon Watson
When the Covid-19 pandemic forced schools, businesses and healthcare providers online, many rural communities like Buckingham County felt the strain of inconsistent or even nonexistent internet access. With the help of Firefly Fiber Broadband, the county looks to make those memories into a worry of the past.
“You’ve gotten the short end of the stick since electricity came,” said Melissa Gay, Firefly vice president of communications and customer service. “That’s why the co-op exists. We’re providing universal broadband coverage in unserved and underserved areas. We’re here to serve a need.”
Created in 2018, Firefly is a subsidy of the Central Virginia Electric Cooperative. The company started installation with their own substations across Virginia before expanding to areas with other electric companies in place. The company began work in Buckingham County in late 2019 and early 2020. According to Gay, the county really struggled during the pandemic with students traveling to McDonald’s to get online to complete their classwork. When grant funding became available during that time, Firefly and the county were quick to apply and utilize the funds to expand further into Buckingham. Gay said the company hopes to be fully connected across the entire county by Spring 2026.
“We are essentially serving your whole county,” Gay said, noting some recent delays due to winter storms. “We’re coming, but we’re at a complete standstill for underground lines. Until some of this stuff moves, we can’t do much.”
Currently, Firefly is in homes across 15 counties in Central Virginia. They are already serving the majority of Buckingham County, with two areas in the North Eastern section of the county left to complete, as shown on the map. [place map near this] Firefly offers residents local broadband service straight to their homes through underground lines and are currently waiving installation and equipment fees.
“This is different than any service they have had,” Gay said of Firefly. “It doesn’t matter if there’s snow and ice. It goes directly to your home.”
With 24-hour technical support and a local customer service team, Firefly hopes to make the pandemic struggles a thing of the past as well as long-term outages from storms and other natural events.
“Our top goal is not leaving our rural populations offline for days,” Gay said “We’re your neighbors and want to be seen as such. We are proud, local providers. We’re not about catches.”
For information on if Firefly is available in your area, visit their website online at https://register.fireflyva.com.
