Faster internet? The demand is there, and telecoms are responding

LIMA — A report authored by a for-profit research company that said internet availability and download speeds in many northwest Ohio communities are substandard has been met with skepticism from some area economic development and telecommunication professionals.

BroadbandNow.com, by its own description, “is a comparison and research website that promotes internet availability for all Americans by bringing transparency to government data and research, fostering competition through better awareness of local providers.” The firm offers for sale a “small suite of tools” for internet service providers to list details on the company’s website about their offers for interested customers.

According to the company’s latest broadband infrastructure report, the Federal Communication Commission’s annual report concluded that “advanced telecommunications capability is not being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion” and that “only 38 percent of Americans have more than one choice of providers for true broadband.”

Among the many statistics contained in the BroadbandNow report is that a mere 18 percent of residents in Allen County have access to fiber optic internet connections. Similar figures are listed for residents of Wapakoneta (21 percent with fiber optic access); Ottawa (13 percent) and Delphos (15 percent).

And while most residents living in those communities have multiple internet providers from which to choose, the Austin, Texas-based company listed several other shortcomings in service and availability locally. BroadbandNow said 21 percent of residents in Wapakoneta “are severely limited in wired broadband choices and 5,000 people in Auglaize County “do not have access to 25 mega-bit per second wired broadband.” In Putnam County, the number of residents without access to 25 megabits per second wired broadband internet service reportedly stands at 10,000.

Five percent of Lima residents are “severely limited” in the number of choices for wired broadband service, the report said, and some 5,000 people in Allen County do not have access to high-speed (25 megabits per second or higher) internet, according to the report.

The average download speed in Lima is 22.23 megabits per second; which is 0.8 percent higher than the state average of 18.8 megabits per second but 91 percent slower than the national average, the report said. The top 10 download speeds in Lima averaged 53.45 megabits per second, faster than the state average but well below the national top speed of 106.76 megabits per second.

The cities in Ohio with the fastest download speeds, according to the report, are Martins Ferry, 69.3 megabits per second; Carrollton, 63.7; South Point, 44.5; Marietta, 43.1; and Stuebenville, 41.6 megabits per second, according to BroadbandNow.

But Upon Closer Inspection …

Jeff Sprague, president and CEO of the Allen County Economic Development Group, said that while prospective businesses do inquire about internet services that are available locally, “never has it come up” that those services are insufficient.

When apprised that the BroadbandNow report suggested that only 17 percent of Allen County residents have access to fiber optic internet connections, Sprague said, “I don’t think that’s correct. We have a fiber optic line that circles Lima for use by all our internet providers.”

Sprague said that when companies inquire about internet service, the Wapakoneta-based Telephone Service Co. provides a fact sheet of services that has never failed to satisfy a prospective customer’s needs.

When asked if he felt the greater Lima area is underserved when it comes to internet accessibility and download speeds, Greg Myers, executive director of the Wapakoneta Area Economic Development Council, said, “Actually, it’s quite the opposite.”

Myers said internet service “is a common question for us when dealing with prospective. But our service locally is through TSC, which is a great investor in fiber optics. Once we explain what TSC has to offer, there are no more questions. They just say, ‘fine,’” Myers said. “We are so fortunate to have TSC here. They continually invest in our community.”

Lonnie Pedersen, chief operations officer of TSC/Hanson Communications Inc., said the numbers in the BroadbandNow report pertaining to fiber optic availability could be correct — but only as they pertain to residential customers. And even those figures are changing almost daily, Pedersen said.

TSC is the largest shareholder in Com Net, an Auglaize County-based consortium of some 20 small telecommunications companies from throughout northwest Ohio. Pedersen said Com Net in 2011 was awarded a $30 million federal stimulus grant through the Broadband Technology Opportunity Program. Coupled with some $12 million in local funding, a network of fiber optic cable was constructed reaching from Toledo to Dayton to Columbus and into Indiana. Allen, Auglaize and Putnam counties were in the crosshairs of that endeavor.

Pedersen said the network concentrated on areas that were dominated by large businesses, hospitals, schools and other industries that rely on fiber optic capabilities to thrive. The longtime telecom official said, however, that few area residents have access to fiber optic internet connections, which Pedersen described as “the fastest and best internet access there is.”

But residential availability of fiber optic internet service is increasing throughout the region almost daily. Pedersen said TSC has fiber networks in Lima, Van Wert and Findlay, and is constructing a fiber optic line in the village of Waynesfield. “We will cover the entire community soon,” he said. “The project is currently about 75 percent complete.”

In Putnam County, the village of Ottoville is 100 percent served by fiber optics, said one telecom official. Columbus Grove reportedly increased its fiber optic capabilities recently and the city of Ottawa is in the process of increasing its fiber optic presence with assistance from the Glandorf Telephone Co.

Dave Hunt, general manager of the Glandorf Telephone Co., said his company has done work in Ottawa in the past couple of years, “at the request of Putnam County,” bringing fiber optic lines to the county courthouse and other agencies as well as some businesses in town. The company has served Ottawa-Glandorf schools with fiber optic service since 2008, Hunt said.

“Ottawa has been good to us and work there will be ongoing, although not so much on the residential side” of the fiber optic spectrum.

“Honestly, we’re not doing much in the way of residential work in Ottawa right now,” Hunt said. “Our primary focus is on trying to get fiber throughout our home exchange serving the Glandorf area. There are a lot of rural, country miles and it’s an expensive endeavor. But I know the demand for faster [download] speeds is there.”

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Lonnie Pedersen
http://www.limaohio.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2017/09/web1_lonnie-pedersen-mug-1.jpgLonnie Pedersen

High-speed internet connections are important for businesses, residents and schools. The region has room for improvement in bringing high-speed internet to the region, according to a recent report.
http://www.limaohio.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2017/09/web1_lonnie-pedersen-mug-1.jpgHigh-speed internet connections are important for businesses, residents and schools. The region has room for improvement in bringing high-speed internet to the region, according to a recent report. Photo illustration by David Trinko | The Lima News

By J Swygart

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