How to get fiber to your area
Fiber is amazing and fiber is everywhere, but most houses in the US aren’t set up to use it yet. That “last mile” between your house and the rest of the internet makes all the difference and the task of bridging that gap ranges from difficult to herculean. Still, everyone’s gotta start somewhere, right?
How to get fiber to my house
If a fiber provider is already in your neighborhood, you might be in luck. Running a cable from your house to the curb is the smallest investment an ISP would have to make to connect you to its network and will usually be covered by the installation fee.
If the network is still a few blocks away, some ISPs might be willing to run a cable to your house for a much higher installation fee, but usually you have to wait until its network makes its way to your block.
In either case, it’s a good idea to contact your local fiber provider. Even if they’re not willing to run a fiber cable to your house yet, at least they’ll know that there’s interest in your area when they start expanding their network.
How to get fiber to my neighborhood
Having a fiber network in your city is great, unless you happen to live on the opposite side of town where it’s not available. Then it’s just frustrating. Fortunately, ISPs don’t usually make the massive investment of a new fiber network just to get a tiny pocket of customers. They want to expand to wherever they can get the most customers, which usually involves close cooperation with local city governments.
One of the best ways to show an ISP that there is interest for fiber in a particular area is to go to town and community meetings and ask about fiber internet. Better yet, talk to your neighbors and get them all to come with you and you can all express your desire for fiber internet together.
Community council members can pass your interest along to the ISP or, in many cases, the ISP might have employees at the meeting. Google Fiber, for example, often sends employees to community council meetings in areas where it’s expanding its network to share information and generate interest. If you’ve already got the interest, half their work is done.
How to get fiber to my city
If there are no ISPs in your city offering fiber service, you’ve got quite the daunting task. Although some ISPs are expanding their fiber networks, others, like Google Fiber, have cut back or halted their expansion altogether.5 Does that mean that all hope is lost?
There is still one other option: municipal fiber. Although ISPs are more likely to build fiber infrastructure in larger cities first, any city can build a municipal fiber network with enough community support. Cedar Falls, Iowa, had a population just over 40,000 when it built its fiber network.6 Mapleton, Utah, a town with barely 10,000 residents, is currently building its own fiber network as a public utility.7, 15 These networks are often paid for by bonds, which also means that they don’t increase taxes or take funds away from other important programs.8
Building a municipal fiber infrastructure can also have additional benefits. In 2015, the White House commissioned a study into the effectiveness of community-based broadband solutions. This study found that municipal broadband not only created fast, cheap, and widely available internet connections but also brought commercial competition and private investment to underserved communities.9 In this way, municipal broadband creates more choices for consumers and drives economic growth.
Even in the most technologically developed areas, public investment in fiber is one of the best ways to lower costs and increase competition. New York City recently announced plans to build a city-wide municipal fiber network, focusing on the most poorly connected areas first.10
Fiber access isn’t only a solution for dense urban areas. It can also be done in rural areas. In January 2022, the small town of American Falls, Idaho, announced that it would soon be offering fiber internet to all residents, free of charge.14 Giving every home in the city fiber access will help to bridge the digital divide in this area, allowing residents the same opportunities available in urban areas.
Municipal fiber networks can also be the seeds of larger projects. It’s no surprise that when Google Fiber announced that West Des Moines, Iowa, would be its first new city after four years of inactivity, it chose a city that had already laid down its own fiber infrastructure.11 This isn’t a new trend, either. Provo, Utah, the third city in the US to get Google Fiber, was chosen because Google was able to take over the city’s existing municipal infrastructure.12
If you build it, they will come.
Author - Peter Christiansen
Peter Christiansen writes about satellite internet, rural connectivity, livestreaming, and parental controls for HighSpeedInternet.com. Peter holds a PhD in communication from the University of Utah and has been working in tech for over 15 years as a computer programmer, game developer, filmmaker, and writer. His writing has been praised by outlets like Wired, Digital Humanities Now, and the New Statesman.
Editor - Cara Haynes
Cara Haynes has been editing and writing in the digital space for seven years, and she's edited all things internet for HighSpeedInternet.com for five years. She graduated with a BA in English and a minor in editing from Brigham Young University. When she's not editing, she makes tech accessible through her freelance writing for brands like Pluralsight. She believes no one should feel lost in internet land and that a good internet connection significantly extends your life span.
