Local business spotlight - Willamette Valley Fiber

Show Notes

Today, we are talking about Willamette Valley Fiber, a local business here in Dallas. Our guest today is Jason Saunders, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service Director at Willamette Valley Fiber. 

https://wvalleyfiber.com/
https://www.facebook.com/willamettevalleyfiber

What is Dallas, Oregon Podcast?

Your source for city updates, behind-the-scenes stories, and conversations with the people shaping our community.

SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the
Dallas, Oregon Podcast, your

quick and informative source for
what's happening in and around

our city.

I'm Charlie Mitchell, the
Economic and Community

Development Director for the
City of Dallas, and each episode

we bring in city staff, local
leaders, and community members

to discuss the projects, people,
and possibilities right here in

Dallas.

Today we're going to be talking
about Willamette Valley Fiber, a

local business here in Dallas.

And our guest today is Jason
Saunders, sales marketing, and

customer service director at
Willamette Valley Fiber.

Jason, thank you so much for
joining us today.

SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having
me, Charlie.

Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00: Now, Jason, before
we get into the kind of more the

details of Willamette Valley
Fiber, uh tell us a little bit

about yourself.

Maybe you can where you grew up
and how you found yourself doing

what you do today.

SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm a native
Oregonian.

Uh, I love Oregon because you're
about two hours away from

everything.

The beach, the mountains, the
desert.

We have it all here.

Um, I've been through all
throughout the state, but kind

of found myself in the
Willamette Valley, uh, my main

location.

That's no pun on Well Fiber, but
you know.

Uh how I got myself in the
industry was kind of a story

where I was actually in Dallas.

I was a manager at the Safeway
here.

Um, I don't want to date myself.

This is the late, late 90s,
though.

Um, I have taken class at
Shamecada, and Shemeckada had a

career fair.

And I'm I just kind of between
classes, I'm walking through

this career fair, and this
person grabs my attention.

And it's actually someone who
frequented the Safeway a lot.

So she kind of knew who I was.

She's like, hey, I have an open
position at ATMT broadband.

Would you like to apply?

I'm like, oh why not?

And uh 26 years later, here I
am, still in the industry.

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00: That's that's great.

Um, now we always love hearing,
you know, people's stories in

their background, like you just
shared.

I appreciate that.

You know, what's kind of behind
the local business.

Um, now let's get into what
Willamette Valley Fiber is, for

those who may not know.

SPEAKER_01: Sure, and we can
short it to WVF.

That's a lot easier.

WVF is easier for me to say.

We uh picked the longest name
possible.

Um, we got here about six years
ago.

Um, you know, we're MyNet 2.

So MyNet is Monmouth
Independence Network.

Um, we're the operator of
Willamette Valley Fiber.

About six years ago, there's a
study that Dallas's internet

wasn't up to pars where it
should be.

So um underserved, as they say.

So we were asked to come in
here, build out here, like I

said, about six years ago, um,
with our fiber to the home

network, which uh what that
means basically is you hear a

lot, especially from our
competitors now, about fiber,

fiber, fiber.

Well, uh, we're truly fiber to
the home.

So like when our competitor says
fiber, that means there's fiber

to like a neighborhood or you
know, a city.

We're actually bringing the
fiber to the home.

And some of the advantages that
is very, very consistent speeds.

We're synchronous speeds, so
same up and down load.

Your neighbors can do whatever
they want and it won't affect

your service and there's no peak
times.

But also we're dundant, which
means um in case of an outage,

we have multiple feeds coming in
so it can switch to a backup

feed.

So again, our competitors will
be down and we're still up, and

that's part of the reason is
we're redundant.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's um
that's amazing.

Uh, that's a great asset for a
community like Dallas to have

that.

Uh tell everyone where WVF is
located.

SPEAKER_01: Right across the
street from the city hall.

You can't miss us.

Uh Dallas natives will say that
we're the old Radio Shack

building.

Radio Shack, right?

We hear that all the time.

Uh yeah, that it was a it's a
city-owned building.

Um, the city wasn't utilizing it
at the time, so we got to lease

it, but uh we renovated a lot
inside, but people still come in

and tell me stories about Radio
Shack and you know, oh, we went

there when we were little and
what we got and this, you know.

So yeah, we're at 988 Southeast
Jefferson.

SPEAKER_00: At the corner of
Jefferson and Washington, right?

Correct, correct.

Good.

Now, from the city's
perspective, we see that you and

the company pretty involved in
the community, I would say.

Now, can you tell listeners uh
all the many ways that that

you're connected?

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um we're part
of the chamber, we're part of

the um DDA, obviously Dallas
Downtowns Association, the

Dallas Arts Association work
closely with.

In fact, they have a rotating
exhibit in our office every

month.

Um, we're part of the glow run,
we're part of the summer concert

series, pretty much uh Dallas
Athletics, anything that's

really involved in town, we try
to sponsor, be a part of, be

there.

Uh, in fact, this week I did
mock interviews for sophomores

at the high school, which uh I
really find enjoyable.

It's kind of nice to you know
work with kids.

SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that's a
that's a great event.

Is there anything else you want
to um or any place you want to

direct people to, such as a
website or social media

accounts, newsletter, et cetera?

How do people connect with WVF?

SPEAKER_01: Wvalleyfiber.com.

That's our website.

Uh, you have our links to our
Facebook account there, our

Instagram account.

Of course, our office is 988
Southeast Jefferson Street.

So those are the main ways to
get a hold of us.

And of course, you can call us
at 503-371700.

SPEAKER_00: Very good.

Now, Jason, before we move on to
some of our last questions

today, is there anything that
you want to share with our

listeners today that maybe we
haven't covered yet?

Maybe um a call to action uh or
frequently asked question or

something that people might be
confused about.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think the
fiber question was the biggest

thing.

Um, you know, we are local,
which is another huge advantage.

Um, but also we just launched a
2.5 gig speed, which makes us

the fastest provider in Polk
County.

Um Welland Valley Fiber is now
also located in Rickreal.

We're in South Dallas, and we
just opened up in Fall City.

So we're really taking over Polk
County, if you will.

Uh, but our office is still here
in Dallas.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, good.

Anything else?

SPEAKER_01: I think that's it.

You got it covered.

SPEAKER_00: All right.

Um, now um, before we um before
we close out, um, I want to

thank you, thank Jason for
joining us today uh from Willama

Valley Fiber.

And before we go, we ask all our
guests this one last question,

and that is what is your
favorite thing about Dallas?

SPEAKER_01: You know what's
really close knit?

It is.

Uh, I love working downtown as
we talked prior to this.

Um, I can walk to all my
meetings.

It's a really quaint, nice
downtown.

People know you, people wave on
the street.

It is really close knit.

I mean, it's not a big city per
se, you know, 20,000 population,

but it feels a lot smaller,
hometown feel.

I really like that.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's
awesome.

I totally agree with that.

Well, thanks again to Jason for
joining us today, and thank you

to everyone for tuning in.

And be sure to follow us on
YouTube, Spotify, and Apple

Podcasts.

Thanks for listening to the
Dallas Oregon Podcast.

I'm Charlie Mitchell, and we'll
see you next time.