"The old saying "if you want something done right, do it yourself" usually isn't helpful when your problem is not having good Internet service. But for one man in rural Michigan named Jared Mauch, who happens to be a network architect, the solution to not having good broadband at home was in fact building his own fiber-Internet service provider.
"I had to start a telephone company to get [high-speed] Internet access at my house," Mauch explained in a recent presentation about his new ISP that serves his own home in Scio Township, which is next to Ann Arbor, as well as a few dozen other homes in Washtenaw County.
Mauch, a senior network architect at Akamai in his day job, moved into his house in 2002. At that point, he got a T1 line when 1.5Mbps was "a really great Internet connection," he said. As broadband technology advanced, Mauch expected that an ISP would eventually wire up his house with cable or fiber. It never happened.
He eventually switched to a wireless Internet service provider that delivered about 50Mbps. Mauch at one point contacted Comcast, which told him it would charge $50,000 to extend its cable network to his house. "If they had priced it at $10,000, I would have written them a check," Mauch told Ars. "It was so high at $50,000 that it made me consider if this is worthwhile. Why would I pay them to expand their network if I get nothing back out of it?"
AT&T, the incumbent phone company, finally offered DSL to Mauch about five years ago, he said. However, AT&T's advertised plans for his neighborhood topped out at a measly 1.5Mbps—a good speed in 2002, not in 2020. AT&T stopped offering basic DSL to new customers in October and hasn't upgraded many rural areas to modern replacements, leaving users like Mauch without any great options.
But about four years ago, Mauch started planning to build his own provider that now offers fiber-to-the-home broadband in parts of Scio Township and Lima Township. Mauch has installed five miles of fiber so far and began hooking up his first customers a few months ago. As of early January, Mauch told us he had connected 30 homes and had about 10 more homes to wire up. He initially figured he'd get about 35 percent of potential customers to buy service, but it's been about 70 percent in reality. The customers that Mauch has not yet hooked up are generally relying on cellular service, he said."
"Construction wasn't a breeze. Mauch received one stop-work order from the county because he hadn't installed enough stakes along the right of way. Mauch also ran into confusion over a requirement to provide 48 hours notice before work—he said he didn't realize he needed to provide that notice each time his crew did work. "Permitting agencies are not always very clear about what their requirements are... and this is a barrier of entry for newer providers like me," Mauch told us.
There was another snag when a machine was stolen from one of Mauch's work sites. "We actually found it for sale on Facebook and we managed to recover it as well due to diligent work on the part of the police and our own research," he said.
The pandemic helped Mauch a bit because there was less road traffic and people were generally at home, making it easier to run fiber to their houses, he said. The pandemic also helped local residents realize just how important broadband access is, which may have boosted the sign-up rate for Mauch's service.
Mauch charges $65 a month for symmetrical 50Mbps service, $75 for 250Mbps, and $99 for 500Mbps, with an installation fee of $199. If a house is more than 200 feet from the road, he charges an extra 45 cents per foot to extend the cable."
From the Comments:
Tons of respect for this guy - he managed to conquer many complex things:
- Local regulations, laws, permits, you name it (which can be quite complex)
- Tariffs related to telecom (also quite complex)
- The hardest part - getting the cable underground and to the customer site (without breaking anything)
- Fiber splicing (I've never done it - so I'm sure the equipment and learning curve took a little bit)
Definitely took some planning and dedication on his behalf - and I could see this model working with other areas that don't have fiber internet. Totally impressed by what he did!Reminds me of a similar article from Ars back in Nov 2015: https://arstechnica.com/information-tec ... t-service/
These articles, as well as similar cases all over the US, are glaring examples of the failure of deregulated capitalism. Capitalism can only work when heavily regulated otherwise its core principle--greed--drives all decisions.
"I have been surprised at how desperate people are for broadband," Mauch told Ars.
No surprise...high-speed Internet service is a necessity which is why it needs to be regulated as such.
Those proponents of deregulation in the name of "progress" and "efficiency" are liars and thieves. The only way to keep those thieves in check is through effective government regulation. Yes, it makes running a business more difficult, but it's the only way to prevent the current, pathetic and monopolistic broadband landscape in the US.
