Connecting rural and far-out communities to broadband networks is no small task. The United States is home to a wide variety of geographies, from vast, arid deserts to swampy marshes, and from tundra to wide open plains, no two infrastructure projects are the same.
Cable ISPs have been working diligently over the years to extend service to every American, whether they live on a remote island in Alaska or have suffered the devastating effects of a hurricane in Florida.
To tell the stories of all the feats of engineering and hard work happening around the country, NCTA.com has a new interactive storytelling experience.
“Every Mile of Fiber Has a Story” highlights projects across four regions: the west, the midwest, the northeast, and the south. Here are just a few examples of the many projects profiled. To learn more, be sure to visit the page on NCTA.com.
The West
- Broadband operators like GCI are connecting some of the most remote communities in the country.
- The Aleutian Islands in Alaska are home to industrial fishing ports and the setting for “The Deadliest Catch.” The island chain will be connected to gigabit speed broadband through over 800 miles of subsea fiber.
- In Arizona, Cox has expanded its network to bring cutting-edge fiber optics to a former mining town in Yavapai County.
- The project brought ultrafast, reliable broadband to over 3,000 residents.
The Midwest
- In South Dakota, Midco invested $3 million of private capital to bring its powerful fiber network to more than 1,800 homes and businesses in Hartford.
- Midco’s broadband service is vital to the important work of locals, including groups like Feeding South Dakota, which works to reduce hunger in the state.
The Northeast
- Charter is working to connect remote communities in the hard-to-reach area of North Haven, Maine. The communities exist on a rocky island off the coast, which itself is rocky and difficult to reach.
- For North Haven, high-speed internet has breathed new life into its fishing industry and facilitated remote work, offering the island community a transformative connection to the broader world.
- In Delaware, Mediacom has successfully completed a fiber-optic network expansion in southern Sussex County, an area known for its Atlantic coast beaches and poultry industry.
- The 155-mile fiber build enables 1,500 homes and businesses to access broadband plans with download speeds of up to 2 gigabits per second.
The South
- Comcast has worked tirelessly to restore connectivity after Hurricane Idalia made historic landfall in north Florida as a category four storm, with maximum winds reaching 125 mph.
- After the storm, technicians leapt into action, identifying fiber cuts across the footprint and working tirelessly to gain access to utility poles to attach cables and restore service for the impacted communities.