High-speed fiber service to home under CBPU study
Don Reid dwreid@aol.com
For now, Coldwater Board of Public Utilities will spend $40,000 for Aspen Wireless to design and set up bids to “harden” its fiber network for security against hackers.
The company will also provide a cost for high speed fiber connections to homes in the community. CBPU Director, Jeff Budd, said, in the past the city looked only at upgrading its current decades old services for businesses and homes. Now, with fiber, “this will go to the next level.
Nothing is faster than the speed of light,” he said. Aspen has worked with Vail, Marshall, Traverse City, and others in Michigan for fiber services. Primarily “this fee will identify the bid costs to harden our internal systems, which is the primary concern,” Budd said.
The city has 22-year-old fiber and coaxial rings that do not connect to certain control installations and services.
In Marshall, since mid-2018, Marshall Utility Systems launched its FiberNet Fiber-to-the-Home and has rapidly blanketed the community with some of the best connectivity in Michigan.
More than 1,000 have signed up for the service. There is a waiting list for connection.
Marshall used some of its funds from the sale of the Endicott Power plant to pay for the network cost of about $2.5 million. It expects to spend approximately $1 million per year to operate and maintain the investment. Some of the funds also came from Development bond financing.
Subscribers pay no installation fee. Residents can choose from four tiers of pricing:
- 50 Mbps - $40 per month
- 150 Mbps - $60 per month
- 250 Mbps - $99 per month
- 1,000 Mbps for $200 per month.
City Manager Tom Tarkiewicz said the service has helped with economic development.
Coldwater got into the cable business, buying out a former company in 1997, and saved customers thousands of dollars by providing competition to Charter and others. Streaming services now are replacing cable television and the city closed out its cable for Skitter TV last year.
Budd said because CBPU provides call services for Marshall it's getting a look at the system.
The director hopes to have the proposal for fiber upgrade by spring so it can complete the build by the end of the year. In that time, the CBPU board will be able to hook fiber to the premises.
“All these decisions will have to come back to this board,” Budd emphasized.
The Hillsdale Board of Public Utilities recommended a system but it was defeated by one vote at its city council. A majority did not feel the city needed to compete with private businesses.
