FAQs
Is donating complicated?
Not at all! It takes less than 2 minutes with modern payment processing, and IRS compliant tax deduction receipts go straight to your email inbox automatically! Please visit our Make a Donation page to donate directly through the website here, or our GiveButter page if you are so inclined. We are very grateful for all of our donors, sponsors, partners, trustees, and customers.
If you want to donate time, a service, a product, or anything that isn’t cash, please email alex@desertdigital.org and we will send you a custom invoice after coordinating receipt of the gift. Non-cash gifts are also tax deductible to an extent.
If you have a donation that is larger than what the website or GiveButter can handle, please email alex@desertdigital.org and we will coordinate banking details personally.
What services will you offer?
When we meet our funding goals, we will offer Broadband speed (or better) fiber Internet service to all customers. Some of our customers will qualify for reduced cost or no cost Internet connectivity through the Affordable Broadband Act. We will also offer digital literacy education and equipment ownership access through school partnerships and corporate sponsors.
What makes you stand out from any other ISP?
We partner with Cogent, the largest B2B Tier 1 ISP and fiber provider in the world. Their extremely attractive B2B rates and decades of proven reliability and connection quality are the reason that we will be able to keep our service’s monthly rates down.
Unlike traditional ISPs or WISPs, we are a donor-supported nonprofit organization, which means we are more inclined to take on infrastructure establishment in areas that require large overhead spending for a slower ROI since we can absorb those costs with far less risk to our operating budget.
We saw the problems with satellite and static wireless Internet and chose to go forward with fiber specifically because nothing beats a wired connection in terms of reliability and ease of maintenance. Truck rolls to repair fiber cost thousands of dollars but when you compare that to a multi-million dollar space launch to add or replace satellites, the financial and environmental impacts are far less damaging with fiber cabling.
How do I get involved with helping the nonprofit?
Please visit our Get Involved page to find out how you can help Desert Digital Access District close the Digital Divide for good. Merely sharing our website on social media is very helpful to us, as awareness translates to capital.
If you want to become an independent contractor, an employee, or a director, please email alex@desertdigital.org directly to find out if we have any opportunities open.
What are your current goals?
1) Connect the entire Coachella Valley to Broadband-or-better fiber Internet infrastructure, eliminate digital illiteracy by 2030.
2) Expand operations concurrently into the High Desert, Imperial Valley, and other California Desert regions which have little-to-no fiber infrastructure.
3) Disrupt the existing ISP business model by providing tax deductible Internet service plans with superior service quality and reliability.
What are the planned tech specs of your Internet service?
Our service package will offer:
5x 9s = 99.999+% uptime = 5m15s total allowed annual downtime (mission critical)
Broadband speed or better = minimum 100 Mbps download + 20 Mbps upload
True, accurate statistics = service speeds measured without bursting (misleading)
Multiple service tiers: open access (100+/20+ Mbps) to VIP (1+ Gbps symmetric)