Electric co-ops, Smithville continue to expand high-speed internet to rural customers
You sit down at the dinner table one evening when your child looks across the table at you with concern on their face. "What?" you ask. "I have an assignment on my Chromebook, one I need internet for," your son or daughter laments. In larger towns, that may not be a problem, but for those outside of city limits, in the more rural areas, high-speed internet can be a problem indeed.
The COVID-19 pandemic taught Americans a multitude of things, including just how difficult it can be to function in society without the benefit of technology and the internet that runs it.
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When students were sent home in late March 2020 to finish their school year through remote learning, high school students were expected to virtually attend classes via Zoom calls and to turn in makeshift assignments electronically. Many items that could not be picked up locally in-store needed to be purchased online. Doctor's appointments were made virtually. All these things and more are difficult to near impossible without high-speed internet at your disposal.
A few years ago, Martinsville-based South Central Indiana REMC began assessing the need for high-speed internet in its service territory, including Owen, Morgan and Monroe counties.
The Owen County Chamber of Commerce encouraged residents to write letters and emails to the electric cooperative, relaying their personal stories and need for fast, reliable high-speed internet, both for personal and business use.
At the event, the need for access to broadband internet was a topic of discussion.
Marce King, Owen County Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development director, announced during the roundtable that by the end of 2023, all residents of Owen County should have access to broadband.
One program that has helped expand broadband internet into South Central Indiana includes the Next Level Broadband initiative, which has awarded a grant for Owen County and the Town of Spencer.
Similar grants have also been awarded to SCI REMC and Smithville for working in Morgan and Monroe counties.
The grants led to partnerships with more traditional service providers, such as Smithville Fiber. Smithville places fiber cable on REMC power poles, thereby reducing cost and allowing customers to choose who their service provider will be once the service is up and running.
"SCI REMC has formed a partnership with Smithville, where SCI REMC is constructing a fiber network to the roughly 3,400 homes where Smithville and SCI REMC overlap. This partnership is well underway and is expected to conclude in 2023," SCI REMC Member Services Manager Tammy Haenlein said.
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The first customers of this partnership came online in April 2021 and the work is ongoing. The Smithville project is set to be complete in 2023 and will serve approximately 3,400 residents and businesses in and around Gosport, Paragon, Ellettsville and Lake Monroe.
For those in rural areas, this step forward is huge. But you don't have to live far away from town to be an underserved area. Currently, residents living just three miles from Owen Valley High School do not have access to high speed internet.
According to REMC officials, all that is set to change in the next two years. Residents of central Owen County are currently seeing construction with hook-ups continuing through 2023. South Central Owen County is set for construction in 2023 with hook-ups and service to begin in 2023 and 2024 as construction is finished.
A large part of Morgan County, northeastern Monroe County and northern Brown County are already in service.
However, northwestern Monroe, extreme southwestern Morgan, southwestern Brown and parts of northeastern and southeastern Owen counties are part of the Smithville partnership.
SCI REMC is currently assessing the interest for fiber internet along the State Road 67 corridor between Brooklyn and Mooresville in northern Morgan County.
"SCI REMC has also partnered with UDWI (Utilities District of Western Indiana) REMC to expand our fiber network to reach many of UDWI’s unserved members in Owen County," Haenlein explained. "SCI REMC received two much-needed grants from the Next Level Connections Broadband Grant Program to help aid in the construction of these areas, which is expected to start in late 2022 and conclude in 2024."
Current price points for residential fiber internet are based on speed with no caps on data use. The smallest or slowest is 50 Mbps at $55 a month and the intervals jump to 100 Mbps for $65/mo., 500 Mbps for $75/mo., and 1000 Mbps for $85/mo.
Bandwidth needed is determined by the number of devices using the internet and how it is being used. Gaming, video calls, computers and video streaming all take variable bandwidth speeds.
The new technology will also bring added benefits to services REMC customers have enjoyed for years.
"In addition, SCI REMC is utilizing the fiber network to make significant improvements to electric reliability," Haenlein said. "Having fiber connectivity to our electric system allows us to monitor and control switches and other devices, which means we can often sectionalize a fault faster and restore power remotely to as many members as possible while a crew is dispatched to the problem area."
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SCI REMC was established in 1939 to provide electricity to the unserved rural parts of Morgan, Owen, Monroe, Brown, Johnson, Clay and Putnam counties. Today, SCI REMC maintains roughly 3,900 miles of electric lines, providing electric service to 34,875 meters and 29,451 electric members. REMC first began its mission in 2018 to offer broadband service to those without.
"To accomplish this goal, SCI REMC began constructing a massive fiber network,"Haenlein noted. "As of August 2022, close to 2,000 miles of fiber have been constructed, and nearly 8,000 rural SCI members are enjoying the life-changing benefits provided by high-speed internet access. Most of the active construction in our membership area is occurring in Owen County and is expected to conclude in early 2023."
This article originally appeared on Evening World: SCI REMC, Smithville continue to bring fiber internet to customers
