You're sitting on the bleachers at the local park at your child's baseball game. The game goes into extra innings, and you need to text a neighbor to let the dog out. You take out your phone, but it's showing a weak connection. You're out of luck.

This spring, thanks to a fiber deployment project from Ohio's Paulding Putnam Electric Co-op, this modern-day annoyance will be a thing of the past.

The Paulding-based co-op is partnering with villages and local organizations to provide free public Wi-Fi to select community spaces—like the ballpark—and fiber internet access to residents and businesses, including those who are not electric members.

“By teaming up with villages outside our electric footprint, we're bringing fast, free Wi-Fi to town halls, parks, fire departments and community centers—places that desperately need it," says Samantha Kuhn, marketing and communications manager at the 14,000-member co-op.

The Wi-Fi is the “icing on the cake," Kuhn says, of the co-op's nearly 1,500-mile mainline fiber deployment across seven counties in northwest Ohio and northeast Indiana over the next three years.

“Collaborating with local villages and organizations to offer free community hotspots wouldn't be possible without Paulding Putnam first making it a priority to construct a robust fiber backbone with plans to serve our membership," she says.

Because of the location of one of the villages, Paulding Putnam worked out a “trade of service" agreement with officials. In this case, the Village of Payne's fire department allowed the co-op to install infrastructure on its property to operate a fiber ring network. The network can also access the station's backup generation.

In turn, the agreement will enable free Wi-Fi at the fire, water and public works departments, village offices and two parks.

“It's a wonderful exchange, and we felt both entities really benefited from this collaboration," says Village of Payne Mayor Lora Lyons. “It will be a major blessing to the community."

Agreements in other villages allow the co-op to market its high-speed fiber service to members and non-members. For example, users logging on will see a landing page advertising the service.

“We serve the outskirts of these villages, and those same members actually go into these towns for the parks and same community centers," says Paulding Putnam Chief Operating Officer Nick Eltzroth.

The hotspots are “an inexpensive way to extend service quickly, help fill immediate gaps for people and provide access while we continue building fiber past each member for their home," Eltzroth adds.

The first of the hotspots are scheduled to start by early 2026. Seasonal parks will come online in the spring.

Before the rollout, the villages had weak internet service, Lyons says. “It varied in stability—we had complaints of outages—and had increased in pricing tremendously over the years."

Now, she says, places like Payne Community Park can become destinations because vendors will be able to accept virtual payments at concession stands and festivals. Wi-Fi will also enable reliable operation of security cameras.

When Wi-Fi comes to the Village of Grover Hill, the local Lions Club will be able to lease out a community center and park for more functions.

“With rising costs of everything these days, we are excited residents will be able to use free internet at the community building and Welcome Park, thanks to Paulding Putnam," says Jay Denny, the civic group's president. “This means service for local groups who meet in this building, like the library and fire department, and those renting it for parties, reunions, and more."

The co-op's desire to expand community Wi-Fi in areas outside its service area will improve life not just for its members, but for the entire community.

“They might have good internet service at their homes, but why not help out?" Eltzroth says. “We surround these villages, parks or community centers, and they're places where people go to be with each other."