Making Internet more accessible

A group of small business owners, employment organizations and concerned citizens attended a monthly open coffee Thursday at Adams Street Espresso to discuss how fiber optic communication will improve southwest Iowa communities.

Union County Development Association Director Wayne Pantini said the monthly coffees, including the one Thursday, are set up for citizens to discuss plans for their futures.

"It just provides an opportunity for aspiring business owners, existing business owners and innovators to share ideas and discuss burning topics," Pantini said.

During the informal group meting, which occurs the fourth Thursday of every month, Bryan Nelson, director of operations at Interstate Communications, explained how upgrading the online fiber-optic infrastructure can benefit everyone in a community.

"It just ensures that they have the highest Internet speeds available to them so they're not encumbered with slow Internet speeds or over-subscription to a data line," Nelson said.

Interstate Communications, located in Emerson and Truro, installed fiber-optic cable along West and East Townline and North and South Elm streets, and plans to install it to parts of Highway 34.

Fiber-optic cables are used to transfer information from one place to another by sending it through an optical cable. These kinds of cables are used instead of copper wiring because they are capable of transferring information at a higher bandwidth and greater distance.

"Broadband is kind of like the 21st-century interstate system. That's kind of how we connect to the rest of the world. We have better opportunities, better speed, better access," Pantini said. "We want to promote those opportunities to local businesses so that way, through a platform such as an open coffee, we can demonstrate there are opportunities out there."

Currently, access in Creston is available for a regular Internet user. However, according to Pantini, once users start including things like video streaming and gaming into their daily activities, speed isn't up to par.

"It gets to a point where if somebody wants to utilize a lot of data, ... that's where the speed isn't where it needs to be," Pantini said. "Anytime our communities have better access, higher speed, access to broadband, that's something that we can promote to businesses and individuals."

Unfortunately, one downside is this kind of access can be difficult outside of city limits because of population density and return of cost to install fiber-optic cable. Creston and Lorimor have easy Internet access, but in rural southwest Iowa where there is a lower population density, the cost to install the cable for the number of people using it may not add up.

"It is a major investment to install a cable, but once a cable is installed, the cable is good for 30-plus years. So, it's a long-term investment," Nelson said.

Currently, several cell phone companies in Creston, Osceola and Shenandoah have installed fiber-optic cable through Interstate Communications and use the cable for Internet access. Pantini hopes to expand that kind of access to other local towns.

"Our next effort is to get better access into Afton," Pantini said. "Union County specifically, this fiber connectivity in Creston just makes it another positive that we can market to the community that we have this available to us."