Starting in the fall, areas of Harrison County could have up to 1-gigabyte of high speed internet available.
Mainstream Fiber Networks hosted an informational luncheon Wednesday and here's highlights of what they said:
The service will be installed in the fall in a fiber ring in the Corydon area, and Mainstream will be focusing on hooking up businesses, county government and the school systems.
The fiber will be strung on Harrison Co. REMC and Duke energy poles. It will be wired directly to major users.
For residential users, as fiber is installed nearby Mainstream will use a small antenna on the pole to beam a signal to a small antenna on a home. They can beam about a 1/2 mile circumference from their line.
After the Corydon ring is complete this fall, they will run up and down Hwy. 135 and then in a larger fiber loop around the county.
Eventually, Mainstream said they expect to cover 80% of the county with high speed fiber and wireless. Other providers could branch off their system with wireless to help cover the rest.
Amazingly, this is coming at no cost to the county. All infrastructure will be paid for by Mainstream. Mainstream is doing a similar project in Brown County as BG Networking.
The fiber installed will only be 20% used at the start, to provide capacity for future growth and demand. They will install 96 1-gigabyte strands.
For residential users they usually charge $40 a month for 3 to 5 megabytes of the wireless speed. They said customers will find their rates are cheaper when compared to other services at similar speeds.
Mainstream will want to find business and residential users so they know which areas to run their fiber in the second ring. They are just starting to draw the map. If you have a big high speed need you should contact them.
To contact Mainstream, call 812-961-2838 or email Fred Price: fprice1313@comcast.net
Locally for more information, Lisa Long, executive director of the Chamber and Connect Harrison County is the local leader of this challenge at 812-738-0120. Commissioner George Ethridge is very knowledgeable as well and spoke at length on the topic.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
