High-speed internet service coming to more of Northeast Florida, giving customers a choice

IQ Fiber, a Northeast Florida residential fiber-optic internet service provider, put its first customers online in September after months of groundwork.

The provider recently activated the first portion of its residential internet network in San Jose Forest, and the San Marco and Atlantic Beach networks are expected to come online in phases over the next several months to hit its goal of serving 60,000 customers in the area.

They're already planning to bring service in more areas of Jacksonville and into Clay County.

Local internet company comes to NEFL: IQ Fiber bringing residential fiber optic internet service to Atlantic Beach, San Marco

The network consists of underground conduit and fiber-optic cables extending from the core internet backbone directly into homes, allowing for the fastest internet speeds available.

Larry Roberts, one of IQ Fiber’s first customers,  said he has been on the network for about a week.

“We were interested and knew it was coming,” Roberts said. “We saw the crews come in and first lay the conduit, and that’s an interesting thing to watch.”

He said the upload speed and price point were the most attractive aspects of switching internet providers after being a Comcast customer for 26 years.

IQ Fiber’s network is capable of symmetrical speeds — meaning the same upload and download speeds — of up to 10 gigabits per second.

“I do some work with video files, and to upload one of those video files on my previous connection was very slow and could take a half hour or might not even work at all,” Roberts said. “[IQ Fiber’s] upload speed is as fast as their download, and it proves right. I uploaded one of those big files and it took 35 seconds — from 35 minutes to 35 seconds.”

Kim Smithers, chief marketing officer for IQ Fiber, said the best feedback the company has received is “that people are happy to have another provider.”

“We had aggressive goals and have been meeting those aggressive goals,” Smithers said.

These goals include finishing all builds related to fiber expansion by the end of the year, and she said they are “right on track” with initial timeline estimates for this and for the number of customers they would like to have online by the end of the year.

“We are excited to bring a modern internet choice to tens of thousands of additional Jacksonville area residents,” said Ted Schremp, CEO of IQ Fiber, in a news release. “IQ Fiber is Northeast Florida’s only local residential fiber-optic internet service provider and are proud to make this significant investment right here in our own community.”

IQ Fiber also recently announced its plans to expand its fiber-optic network to Jacksonville Beach, Beauclerc and Mandarin.

It also will begin its first projects in Clay County with Orange Park and Fleming Island. These expansions will come to be a $45 million investment.

“Broadband internet service is now crucial for everyday life at home,” said Jacksonville Beach Mayor Chris Hoffman in an IQ Fiber news release. “Access and availability of this upgraded fiber-based technology is important to our residents and we welcome IQ Fiber to our city.”

To support this rapid growth, the company has expanded its team to 50 local employees. This is in addition to its vehicle fleet and three facilities, including a warehouse and recently opened Engineering and Technical Operations Center at 4502 Lenox Ave.

The goal is to hire 60 employees to support the 60,000 homes serviced, Smithers said, and IQ Fiber will continue hiring support staff — mostly in contact center, installation and drop crew positions — as the number of customers increases.

Smithers said IQ Fiber is bringing on a steady number of customers daily and has plans for continued residential expansion over the next five years.

Residents can sign up for email updates about network construction in their area at iqfiber.com.

IQ Fiber's three service plans deliver symmetrical internet speeds between 250 and 1,000 megabytes per second and whole-home Wi-Fi service with a simple app to manage connections and settings.

“Basically I didn’t have any other options until IQ Fiber,” Roberts said. “I hope that their service can be offered to every neighborhood in Jacksonville. I feel very lucky that they started with our neighborhood. I know there are a lot of people who need a good internet connection these days. To me, good internet is not an option anymore — everyone has to have it.”

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: IQ Fiber internet company plans expansion in Northeast Florida