Spectrum, a nationwide telecommunications services provider, celebrated the completion of a broadband fiber optic Internet line through the town of Pacific on Thursday morning. The new network has the capability to serve up to 450 homes and small businesses in the area and is part of Spectrum's $9 billion rural broadband project throughout the country.
Residents and town officials began to realize the negative impact of a lack of high-speed Internet in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, said town Chair Steven Pate. He said that school students and people who worked remotely had trouble with slow Internet speeds.
"Something had to be done to correct that problem," Pate said, adding that he met with Spectrum, also known as Charter Communications, officials to expand service throughout the town in late 2022.
The town of Pacific fiber optic broadband project, which will provide speeds up to one gigabit per second and advanced Wi-Fi services to future customers, was funded through Spectrum and American Rescue Plan Act funds from the town.
"This is really critical for us," said Pate, who worked in telecommunications for 45 years. "Broadband is important, and it's really neat that every home in the town of Pacific will have (access to) it."
Matt Brown, a town resident and senior director of construction for Spectrum, said that the network buildout in his hometown is "near and dear to my heart." He added that the project was completed roughly two months ahead of time, praising his technician crew for their work installing fiber optic lines through difficult rural terrain. Construction began in the spring of 2023.
"The scale, in terms of miles, is enormous," Brown said regarding the difference between urban and rural broadband projects. "We're literally building the entire length of the State of Wisconsin every single month, and we've been doing it for years."
Rural broadband construction involves working around farms, navigating around rivers and creeks, battling weather conditions, and dealing with road construction, according to Brown.
Customers will have access to minimum speeds of 400 megabits per second, up to 1 gigabit, with unlimited data, along with no modem fees or contracts.
Columbia County District 25 Sup. Tess Carr said she and her family moved to Lodi from Houston, Texas, in 2016 after her parents retired in Wisconsin, and one of her main goals was to find a home in a rural area with broadband access. Since being elected to the County Board in 2022, her main focus has been expanding broadband access throughout the county.
"The first thing that came to mind was, 'look at these small towns,'" Carr said. "Look at these places in Columbia County that have students draining away, employees draining away, and small businesses struggling and failing because there is no broadband."
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