Smithville to Build Bloomington Gigabit Neighborhood

BLOOMINGTON, IN — Beginning in May, the Blue Ridge neighborhood of Bloomington, Ind., will be connected to Smithville GigaCity technology as a result of a partnership between Smithville Telecom and the Blue Ridge Neighborhood Association (BRNA), according to Darby McCarty, chairman and CEO.

Bringing access to 225 homes in Blue Ridge, the Smithville GigaCity technology will make available new fiber-based high-speed connectivity at symmetrical 1,000 Mbps speeds (up and down in data transmission), all with an in-home wireless gigabit capacity. This is several times faster than traditional cable, which often only offers download speeds of 20 Mbps and 2 to 3 Mbps upload. The Blue Ridge project will be a true fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) project, according to Dave Brodin, Smithville chief technology officer, who spearheaded the development.

“We’re excited to be the first neighborhood in the city to have this technology available to residents,” said Jo Basey, president of the Blue Ridge Neighborhood Association. “This is an investment that will not only benefit our residents, but will also benefit the city by bringing more competition for broadband services to Bloomington,” she added, noting recent research which showed that fiber connectivity can increase home value.

With the fiber gigabit service, Smithville will also offer Blue Ridge residents best-quality IPTV (video), crystal-clear voice services, high-capacity data transmission, fast access to cloud services, and Smithville’s suite of services for home security and cellular.

Paid for by Corporate Funds Plus a Federally Backed Loan
Using corporate funds and a federally backed loan (no federal or state grant funds were involved), Smithville began a $110 million fiber overbuild of its traditional service area back in 2008, and the company has since built or connected to more than 2,500 miles of fiber. Significant changes in federal agency policy and funding led Smithville to consider and develop other means to continue its fiber expansion, which now includes the Bloomington Blue Ridge area. Advances in gigabit technology have enabled Smithville to offer true symmetrical gigabit (1,000 mbps) service for new developments in Jasper, Danville and elsewhere. Smithville has an agile capacity to build fiber networks in specific neighborhoods, and other areas and cities are presently under consideration.

Gigabit Capacity Supports Civic and Consumer Advancements
Fiber-optics networking with gigabit capacity is quickly becoming a necessary element of civic infrastructure. Advancements in health care leverage fiber capacity for critical image transmission and telemedicine. Growing businesses can rely on its dependable connectivity to “future-proof” their operations. Consumers benefit from gigabit-based “smart home” technology, as well as lightning-fast downloads of high-definition movies, streaming video (such as Netflix and Amazon Prime), and a host of other services.

Fiber offers a platform of exponential speed and can carry enormous amounts of data. The transition to a purely fiber platform means increasing download speeds from a few megabits per second (Mbps) to 1,000 Mbps. With this new capacity large files can be downloaded much faster. For example, with gigabit connectivity, a full two-hour HD movie can be downloaded in about 30-50 seconds regardless of the number of devices connected, compared with much longer periods of time at lower bandwidth speeds.

Cloud-based computer applications that fully leverage the power of gigabit connectivity are presently in development. They include numerous quality of life and business productivity applications that will positively impact, even transform, areas of healthcare, entertainment and commercial operations.