On This Nearly Deserted Alaska Island, You Pay to Keep Hundreds of Empty Buildings Wired for Internet

On This Nearly Deserted Alaska Island, You Pay to Keep Hundreds of Empty Buildings Wired for Internet

September 11, 2026 · 15 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the costs associated with maintaining internet service for empty buildings on Adak Island, Alaska.

U.S. phone customers pay more than $340,000 a year for an Anchorage company to keep homes and buildings on Alaska’s Adak Island wired for obsolete internet service. All but a few of them sit empty. By Kyle Hopkins, Anchorage Daily News. Co-published with Anchorage Daily News. Originally published July 20, 2026. Recorded by News Over Audio. Support our journalism by donating at propublica.org/donate.

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