Tiny Calif. community finally getting phone service

High-speed Internet access tops many rural residents' wish list, but in Iowa Hill, Calif., residents would settle for a telephone line. An hour northeast of Sacramento, and just nine miles from Interstate 80 -- but in the rugged Sierra Nevada -- the town of 150 will get that wish this summer, reports Todd Milbourn of McClatchy Newspapers.

"Phone companies long resisted laying the necessary copper lines, saying Iowa Hill was too remote, and too few people lived there," Milbourn writes. "But thanks to a $2.5 million state grant and the commitment of a local phone company, Iowa Hill residents will get hooked up as early as summer. When that happens, Iowa Hill will leave a surprisingly long list of far-flung California communities still lacking telephone service: Lost Hills in Fresno County, Pine Mountain in Kern County and Siskiyou County's Eddy Gulch, Godfrey Ranch and Swillup Creek, to name a few."

The town has relied on cell phones for the past decades, but service is spotty in the area's rough terrain. Most hike "Telephone Hill" on the east side of town to guarantee a signal. The difficult terrain had been one of main hurdles to the installation of a telephone line. This plan calls for the use of microwaves to help connect the more isolated households. (Read more)