Smithville has started construction of the fiber optic network in the city of Jasper. The next generation network to deliver high speed broadband services to the residents and businesses in the city will be built by Smithville Communications and its subsidiary. After completing the multi-year project is complete, Jasper residents will have access to a full gigabit fiber optic network, which will deliver high-speed in-home and business wireless gigabit connectivity. The project is based on Fiber-to-the-Premise design.
Fiber to the premise brings optical fibers closer to the subscriber. Traditionally, an FTTP network terminates optical fibers at around 300 meters from the end user. If copper cabling is not used, wireless technology can be employed to deliver high speed broadband to the end users. FTTP is not same as FTTH. In FTTH, fiber is terminated at user’s home.
Jasper, Indiana is the county seat of Dubois County, the state’s consistent leader in employment. Jasper has recently been named one of Indiana’s top places to live and one of Indiana’s safest communities. Home to 15,500 people, Jasper expands in population daily with a workforce larger than its population.
The collaboration between Jasper city and Smithville communications will propel Jasper residents, schools and companies to an even higher level of living. The decision by the City of Jasper to leverage fiber service to the municipal departments into a complete extension of fiber throughout the community will bring state-of-the-art communications capabilities.
Fiber-optics networking is quickly becoming a necessary element of civic infrastructure. Advancements in healthcare leverage fiber capacity for critical image transmission and telemedicine. Growing businesses can rely on its dependable connectivity and consumers benefit from gigabit-based “smart home” technology, as well as lightning-fast downloads of high-definition movies, streaming video (such as Netflix and Amazon Prime), and a host of other services.
Fiber offers a platform of exponential speed and can carry enormous amounts of data. The transition to a purely fiber platform means increasing download speeds from a few megabits per second (Mbps) to 1,000 Mbps. With this new capacity large files can be downloaded much faster. For example, with gigabit connectivity, a full two-hour HD movie can be downloaded in about 30-50 seconds, compared with much longer periods of time at lower bandwidth speeds.
The Jasper and Smithville fiber build is expected to take three years to completely install. Engineering planning alone for residential and small business sections will take up to nine months. Smithville currently expects that about 33% of the gigabit fiber build will be completed by the end of 2016, 33% by the end of 2017 and full completion by the end of 2018.
Later this year, Smithville Telecom will offer the online capacity for Jasper residents to submit their opinion and help influence the sequence of the fiber build-out. More information about the fiber installation and public outreach will be announced throughout the year. Residents can sign up to receive updates jasper.smithville.com.
Nationally recognized as a Top 100 Broadband Company, privately owned Smithville Communications is Indiana’s largest independent telecom company with more than 140 employees. With an earned reputation as a communications technology innovator, Smithville is presently deploying Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP) and other enhanced fiber services to its business and residential customers. These services, which range up to 10 Gbps, provide a platform for the fastest connectivity available in Indiana to business, institutions and consumers. Its subsidiary Smithville Telecom provides fiber-based connectivity, data consulting, network management and managed services for businesses, university campuses, biotechnology companies, healthcare providers, government offices and other entities. The company currently serves about 23,000 businesses and residences in southern and central Indiana. For more information, please visit www.smithville.com.
Openreach Announces “Stop-Sell” Policy of Copper Broadband
