Fiberoptic network installation on schedule; ultra-high-speed internet in Kenosha expected by late summer in some areas
Better, faster internet that would be accessed exclusively from homes and businesses within the City of Kenosha continues to progress as crews have been busy since the fall installing a 600-mile underground fiberoptic network that is expected to be completed over next two and half years.
If all goes as planned, ultra-high-speed internet could be available to some customers by late summer.
“Our contractor has placed 132,000 feet or roughly 25 miles of the microduct to date so far since we started in September,” said Jean Miller, area manager for SiFi Networks, who delivered a status report Monday night to the Public Works Committee on the $100 million project which is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2025.
Miller said that up until the recent snowstorm, crews had continued to microtrench and install the fiberoptic cables in an area between 30th and 34th Avenues and between 75th Street and Roosevelt Road.
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“Unfortunately, due to the weather, they did not work (Monday) and they will not work (Tuesday),” she said. “They’ll assess things on Wednesday to see what work they are able to accomplish this week.”
In the fall of 2020, the city and SiFi entered into an agreement that would allow the company to privately fund and develop the fiberoptic network to transform Kenosha into a FiberCity™, home to SiFi Networks’ trademarked universal fiberoptic network.
Under the agreement, SiFi Networks is responsible for 100% of the project costs. The 30-year deal comes at no cost or risk to taxpayers or the City of Kenosha, company officials have said.
Project launched in September
In September, company officials announced the project’s launch. The new network will provide residents and businesses with internet service provider competition and product choice, which includes symmetrical gigabit speed internet and high-capacity fiber to support Smart City initiatives.
Miller said the crews are making note of areas that need restoration, “primarily any sidewalks that we will have to replace come spring.” Teams have been designated to restore areas and to seed the grass that have been upturned to accommodate the fiberoptic network.
“Currently we’re putting down the straw matting, but we aren’t putting any grass seed down because, unfortunately, it’s not going to germinate in the winter months,” she said.
As the snow recedes, crews will be placing slender plastic signs, or markers, indicating that restoration is still taking place and that they will return to finish the job, she said.
Website tracks progress
“We’ve also updated our Kenosha FiberCity website … because our deployment method continues to change as we’ve moved through the city,” she said. “We’ve also seen an uptick in the interactive map that the city has been managing for us.”
The interactive map shows where work is currently being done and can be accessed here.
According to Miller, the map has gained about 200 new “hits” a month since the installation of the project began.
“We’ll continue to update that once we pick up production. In the spring that will be updated more often,” she said.
Miller said SiFi, which has a local office at 4611 Green Bay Road, has fielded fewer complaints from residents as crews are no longer boring under driveways to lay the microduct.
She told Ald. David Bogdala that while she did not have specific figures on the number of complaints, they have gone “down to two or three a week.”
“A lot of it is more just people questioning when the reinstatement, their restoration is going to be complete because they’re not seeing it now because of the winter months,” she said, assuring Bogdala she would have data available at the next Public Works meeting.
He wondered how closely the project was aligned with the timeline for finishing it.
“We are on schedule,” Miller said.
He was also curious about whether SiFi what internet service providers had already signed on to become part of the network and eventually offer high-speed access to customers.
While SiFi’s network is installed at no cost to the city, customers would still have to pay a provider to receive ultra-high-speed access through the network that has the capacity to deliver up to 10 gigabits per second to Kenosha’s 40,000 households, businesses and institutions. SiFi’s internet speeds are among the fastest available.
“This was supposed to be so that we would start to get vendors attracted to Kenosha providers,” he said. “Are there now any providers who have now come forward?”
ISP secured, provider TBA
While SiFi has secured at least one internet service provider it would be up to the provider to make the announcement public, she said.
“Our marketing team and our commercial team are working very closely with them, encouraging them to make that announcement sooner than later so that the residents in the city know who they are and when they can start kind of maybe understanding when they’ll be able to get those services,” she said.
Bogdala asked whether the candidate was outside any of the providers in the area.
“I’m not certain I can answer that,” Miller said. “I do know our CEO has said it will be worth the wait for the city for this announcement.
Ald. Dominic Ruffalo wanted to know how soon before an ISP could be made available to businesses and residents.
“It will be more into late summer, early fall that we will be able to start turning up some services to residents and businesses, given the way we have to connect so many pieces,” she said.
U.S. states with the fastest internet
Intro
Photo Credit: Jelena Zelen / Shutterstock
The COVID-19 pandemic brought into focus an indisputable fact about the U.S. today: access to quality internet service is key to full participation in society and the economy. As workplaces and schools moved online and households increasingly relied on internet-enabled services like ecommerce and streaming platforms, those with good internet service were better able to manage the transition than those without.
But inequitable access to high-speed internet has been an issue for much longer than the last two years. Policymakers and business leaders—especially those from low-income and rural communities—have long advocated for increased investment in broadband infrastructure to unlock greater economic opportunities in underprivileged areas. These efforts, along with the access issues raised during the pandemic, have inspired major action over the last two years. Federal COVID relief legislation like the CARES Act and American Rescue Plan included funds to support broadband expansion, and a $65 billion investment in broadband was one of the major components of the bipartisan infrastructure package signed into law last November.
The importance of connecting more Americans has grown as the internet has become a more ubiquitous part of society and the economy over time. Beginning in the 1990s, the internet moved from primarily government and academic uses to application for communications, business, and other wide-ranging uses. By 2000, just over half of U.S. adults reported using the internet in some capacity, and innovations like ecommerce and smartphones encouraged even greater adoption in the two decades since. Today, 93% of American adults report using the internet, according to a recent survey by Pew Research Center.
Nearly every American adult reports using the internet in some capacity
While internet use is certainly common, some populations and parts of the country may face greater barriers to reliable internet access. Experts refer to a “digital divide” between those who have reliable access to internet technologies and those who do not. Low income, rural, and minority households all tend to have less access to quality internet service and related technologies. In some cases, these households cannot afford the cost of service, but in others, internet providers may not service their communities at all for financial or logistical reasons.
The Southeast is the region of the U.S. that lags furthest behind the rest of the country when it comes to broadband internet access, along with access to computers in the home. In Mississippi, for example, just over half (50.1%) of all households have access to broadband internet, and only around 64.2% have a desktop or laptop computer. In contrast, many states in the Northeast and West have much better access to technology. New Hampshire leads all states in the share of households with broadband internet access, at 79.9%, and Utah leads in the share of households with a computer, at 87.5%.
The Southeast lags behind other states in computer and internet use
Further, there are some signs that states with fewer households able to access the internet also have worse internet quality overall. States with a higher percentage of households that have broadband also tend to have higher average download speeds. There is a similar but weaker correlation between the percentage of households with a computer and average download speeds.
There is a loose positive correlation between computer use and internet speed as well as internet use and internet speed
Many of the states that lead in download speeds are densely populated and have strong economies, which helps service providers justify the cost of building infrastructure. States in the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions are among those with the fastest internet, but residents of other well-populated and prospering states like California, Texas, and Florida also enjoy excellent internet speeds.
The internet speed data used in this analysis is from HighSpeedInternet.com’s Fastest and Slowest States for Internet Speeds report. Statistics on internet and computer access are from the U.S. Census Bureau and Pew Research Center. For the purpose of this analysis, statistics on broadband access include high-speed internet subscriptions, such as cable or DSL, and do not include cellular data plans. To determine the states with the fastest internet, researchers at HotDog.com ranked states based on the average download speed measured in megabits per second.
Here are the states with the fastest internet.
15. New York
Photo Credit: William Perugini / Shutterstock
- Average download speed (Mbps): 121.8
- Average download speed (compared to average): 2.3% faster
- Percentage of households with broadband internet: 73.4%
- Percentage of households with a desktop or laptop computer: 78.6%
14. Illinois
Photo Credit: Sean Pavone / Shutterstock
- Average download speed (Mbps): 122.8
- Average download speed (compared to average): 3.2% faster
- Percentage of households with broadband internet: 70.3%
- Percentage of households with a desktop or laptop computer: 78.1%
13. Washington
Photo Credit: CSNafzger / Shutterstock
- Average download speed (Mbps): 124.3
- Average download speed (compared to average): 4.5% faster
- Percentage of households with broadband internet: 77.7%
- Percentage of households with a desktop or laptop computer: 84.9%
12. Colorado
Photo Credit: Nicholas Courtney / Shutterstock
- Average download speed (Mbps): 125.0
- Average download speed (compared to average): 5.0% faster
- Percentage of households with broadband internet: 76.2%
- Percentage of households with a desktop or laptop computer: 85.0%
11. New Hampshire
Photo Credit: Jon Bilous / Shutterstock
- Average download speed (Mbps): 127.7
- Average download speed (compared to average): 7.3% faster
- Percentage of households with broadband internet: 79.9%
- Percentage of households with a desktop or laptop computer: 84.5%
10. Florida
Photo Credit: Kevin J King / Shutterstock
- Average download speed (Mbps): 127.8
- Average download speed (compared to average): 7.4% faster
- Percentage of households with broadband internet: 72.1%
- Percentage of households with a desktop or laptop computer: 80.2%
9. Georgia
Photo Credit: f11photo / Shutterstock
- Average download speed (Mbps): 128.0
- Average download speed (compared to average): 7.5% faster
- Percentage of households with broadband internet: 69.3%
- Percentage of households with a desktop or laptop computer: 77.7%
8. California
Photo Credit: Ingus Kruklitis / Shutterstock
- Average download speed (Mbps): 131.0
- Average download speed (compared to average): 10.1% faster
- Percentage of households with broadband internet: 75.2%
- Percentage of households with a desktop or laptop computer: 82.8%
7. Texas
Photo Credit: ShengYing Lin / Shutterstock
- Average download speed (Mbps): 133.7
- Average download speed (compared to average): 12.3% faster
- Percentage of households with broadband internet: 66.8%
- Percentage of households with a desktop or laptop computer: 76.3%
6. Rhode Island
Photo Credit: ESB Professional / Shutterstock
- Average download speed (Mbps): 134.5
- Average download speed (compared to average): 13.0% faster
- Percentage of households with broadband internet: 75.0%
- Percentage of households with a desktop or laptop computer: 78.1%
5. Massachusetts
Photo Credit: Roman Babakin / Shutterstock
- Average download speed (Mbps): 138.1
- Average download speed (compared to average): 16.0% faster
- Percentage of households with broadband internet: 78.7%
- Percentage of households with a desktop or laptop computer: 82.2%
4. Virginia
Photo Credit: Alexandr Junek Imaging / Shutterstock
- Average download speed (Mbps): 139.6
- Average download speed (compared to average): 17.3% faster
- Percentage of households with broadband internet: 71.0%
- Percentage of households with a desktop or laptop computer: 80.6%
3. Maryland
Photo Credit: Olivier Le Queinec / Shutterstock
- Average download speed (Mbps): 144.3
- Average download speed (compared to average): 21.2% faster
- Percentage of households with broadband internet: 76.5%
- Percentage of households with a desktop or laptop computer: 83.3%
2. New Jersey
Photo Credit: Henryk Sadura / Shutterstock
- Average download speed (Mbps): 144.7
- Average download speed (compared to average): 21.6% faster
- Percentage of households with broadband internet: 77.6%
- Percentage of households with a desktop or laptop computer: 82.1%
1. Delaware
Photo Credit: Paul Brady Photography / Shutterstock
- Average download speed (Mbps): 145.8
- Average download speed (compared to average): 22.5% faster
- Percentage of households with broadband internet: 75.4%
- Percentage of households with a desktop or laptop computer: 78.2%
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