City manager proposes fiber internet

FERRIS – The Ferris City Council at a workshop Monday night listened as City Manager Brooks Williams proposed a solution for providing fiber internet to every household and business in the city.

“Today, internet providers like AT&T and Spectrum continue to beat the ‘more house-tops are needed’ drum,” Williams said. 

“While we are certainly working to achieve that – our current residents and businesses are left in the lurch. 

“Why is this the position of AT&T and Spectrum? They want an immediate return on their investment for infrastructure placed in the city to provide fiber internet. 

“The truth is, having high speed, reliable, affordable internet is no longer a luxury.

“With the number of people who work from home, students who learn from home, and businesses that rely on the internet – this is a necessity. So, tonight, I am suggesting that the City of Ferris begin the innovative task of establishing a city provisioned fiber network along with securing commodity Tier 1 or possibly Tier 2 internet services to provide internet services for the city as well as to provide FTTC for all residences and businesses.”

For the city to see the reality of fiber internet, city staff estimates the total cost would be around $7,000,000, and a general obligation bond to pay for the project has been recommended.

“To put in place the infrastructure necessary for the project, it will require fiber construction, right-of-way access, pole accesses, and a dedicated data center that is housed in city hall and maintained by the city,” Williams added.

The goal overall is the city’s ability to offer this type of service to residents for around $75 per month for up to a gig (1000 Mbps) of service. 

“That is faster internet by more than 10x than they have today,” Williams went on to say. “It is reliable, and it is about $50 per month cheaper than they pay today. On the business side, meeting the digital demands of today’s business world can be daunting. 

With the Ferris fiber program being proposed, the city would also like to design it so there will be no data caps or throttling like seen with national providers – and the data will flow faster. 

“That means our businesses in Ferris can keep moving and do it cheaper than they pay today,” Williams concluded.

“At the end of the day, this will be up to the voters to decide. However, there is leg work that needs to be put in, and city staff is ready to get that ball rolling. We believe this is an innovative and critical initiative for our residents and businesses. With rising property taxes, and rising taxes in general, being able to provide a service to our taxpayers that reduces their overall costs monthly – reduction in internet costs versus cost to build infrastructure, attracts businesses that have a strong tax base, and provides a revenue stream to the city – this is a great way to ease the burden on them.” 

AN EXAMPLE OF THE CITY’S SMALL BUSINESS RATES, ALSO  CHEAPER AND FASTER, WOULD BE:

100 Mbps down/100 Mbps up = $100/mo.

300 Mbps down/300 Mbps up = $150/mo.

500 Mbps down/500 Mbps up = $250/mo.

1 Gig down / 1 Gig up = $450/mo.

Here are just a few ways a gig connection (1,000 Mbps) to our residents would impact what they are doing on a daily basis:

1 song (4 minutes, 4 megabyte ) = almost instant

Web video (5 minutes, 30 megabyte ) = almost instant

9-hour audiobook (110 megabyte ) = 1 second

45-minute HDTV show (600 megabyte ) = 5 seconds

2-hour HD movie (4.5 gigabyte ) = 38 seconds