Turner Broadband has a scheduled climb on the Decatur County jail tower this Friday to begin upgrading equipment for faster, more reliable internet service to customers all over the county.

Owner Shane Turner addressed the Decatur County Board of Commissioners Tuesday morning, stating that a new networking company he is working with will put Decatur County on the map. For non-disclosure reasons, he can’t reveal the name of the company yet, he said

“I am now working with a new entity that is going to put us where we need to be,” Turner said. “I can only say so much. But I will say that this will put us on the map when it comes to the internet.”

Problems have arisen over the last year with Turner Broadband’s service, particularly with customers losing connection for long spans of time and slow speeds. Since Turner spoke to the commissioners last month, he claims his company’s internet speed has almost doubled.

While the new equipment is being prepped for installation, Turner is doing what he can to maintain his current equipment and deliver the best service to customers.

Currently, Turner Broadband’s service comes from Community Networking Services in Thomasville. The new entity Turner is doing business with will bring three different internet source providers.

“Our primary line comes from CNS from Thomasville, and if it goes down then ours go down,” Turner said. “(This new company) wants three points just coming to this one network. Three separate internet source providers as back up, so that will not be the reason for the downtime. The game plan is there, it just takes a little more time.”

County attorney Bruce Kirbo mentioned the new equipment Turner would be using on county towers needed to not interfere with the county’s own radio equipment. Turner explained that multiple engineers were working to handle situations like that one.

“They want to do this and do this right the first time,” Turner said.

Decatur County is currently reviewing a contract for Turner to attach his internet equipment to county-owned towers.

The long-term evolution equipment, designed to sustain for up to 15 years, is expected to quadruple bandwidth for customers.

Prices for consumers have not been decided yet.