City of Bloomington, Indiana VIDEO UPDATES with Mayor Hamilton, 3 Nov 2022

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From YouTube: VIDEO UPDATE: Citywide High-Speed Internet Access

Description

Join Mayor Hamilton and GigabitNow/Isofusion CEO Stephen Milton as they discuss high-speed internet access to all of Bloomington as part of the Meridiam/Hoosier Network's $50-million-plus fiber-network project.

GigabitNow will deliver fiber-based broadband services to the first residents by the end of January 2023. GigabitNow will offer service of at least 1 Gigabit per second symmetrical speed (equal upload and download) everywhere the Hoosier Network network reaches. The cost-of-service rates with the initial ISP will be competitive locally and regionally.

Eligible low-income residents may qualify for the Affordable Connectivity Plan (ACP) to get a symmetrical 250 megabits per second (Mbps) plan at reduced or no cost to them. The City and Hoosier Networks will together provide the “drop” connection to qualifying households. Hoosier Networks and the City continue to collaborate on a groundbreaking digital equity program, one of the most innovative broadband public-private collaborations in the country, to help low-income and digitally-disadvantaged households access top-quality internet services.

All residents can learn more and pre-register at no cost or obligation at gigabitnow.com/bloomington. Learn more about the Meridiam/Hoosier Networks project at https://bton.in/QL0n0.

A

A

Hamilton and uh we're here up on the roof of a parking garage and I'm with Stephen Milton, with gig of it. Now we're talking about the new fiber project, that's launching in Bloomington and Stephen, welcome to town again and.

B

A

You can just tell us a little bit about gigabit now you're the internet service provider, but tell us about your company sure.

B

We started in uh started the company in 1991 Founders, just out of college, and we were doing a various types of internet pre-internet technology for local businesses in in Seattle and then in 1994. We started doing dial-up internet services, so we've been. We.

A

Did the ISP from.

B

The very beginning, from the very beginning, we can remember that some of us so I made the whole jump dial up. Dsl.

A

Everything congratulations, yeah.

B

A

You are um what brought you to Bloomington and tell us about how this project appealed to you attracted to the partners or the in just tell us what brought you here.

B

uh Well, so meridium was they're, basically lead in trying to fund these kinds of projects.

A

That's really build the fight exactly.

B

They're, bringing the funding to these kinds of projects right, they work with local companies or Regional companies to do the building the construction. So you.

A

Don't have to build the fibers.

B

Exactly so for our small business, it's low risk yeah. So it's much lower risk for this kind of network to bring an ISP. That is not one of the major companies, and so that's the problem we've had in Broadband for a long time. Right is not enough competition because there's usually only one or two Broadband companies anywhere in the country, I.

A

Think about it kind of like it would be as if, if you were FedEx trying to start deliver packages, you had to build your own.

B

Road system to get everywhere, yeah no yeah.

A

You're delivering internet services, but if you can use that infrastructure that other people have in place that helps you be focused, Nimble compete, I, guess, right.

B

Yeah absolutely, and so that's our our our kind of model at this point is finding cities that have the foresight to work with these kind of companies like meridium and infrastructure. That will build out a network, and then we act as the kind of initial launch service.

A

Provider, because you have to come into the market and win market share.

B

Exactly that's, you got.

A

To come in and convince people, your service is better than what we can get give.

B

Them that Superior experience that a fiber Network and an internet service provider who is not doesn't take all of their services for granted. You know Comcast thinks they're entitled to your dollars. You know that's just that's the way it works there, so um yeah that's kind of the as we. We definitely have to try a lot harder yeah to explain.

A

Hungry exactly crappy, okay, exactly like that exactly um so this this network, your services, maybe can talk a little bit about digital equity and the certain ubiquity of this, and what that means for you and your company's interest in that yeah.

B

So well, we certainly and really like being able to provide internet to everyone um as a kind of early internet Pioneer. That's always been my let's just say one of the one of the things that I'm really interested in in trying to push forward is that the internet is for everyone yeah and that everyone was going to get a lot of benefit from it and, as you mentioned, the rural electrification process is very similar to that process.

B

That we've been going through in the US, with Broadband, so making sure that everyone has access and then the combination of working with the city's programs, the grant programs, meridians programs and then, like you, said, the Biden Harris ACP program, the affordable connectivity program, which I'll basically kicks in about thirty dollars towards an internet connection. We work to make sure that we can provide a good level of service at that 30 price point. So it's effectively free to that income qualified that's.

A

President, that's amazing in our city I, you know to have low-income households, people on free and reduced lunch people in public housing, people on food stamps to get.

B

Essentially, free seniors, free.

A

Free because we're helping pay for the drop so you're, also net neutrality,.

B

Yeah you believe it since the beginning. Oh absolutely.

A

Yeah, we're really glad to have you here.

B

A

Welcome uh you all want to check it out. There's a website we'll give you some information about it too, but uh thanks for being part of our next chapter, absolutely.

B

A pleasure to be here.