A Jacksonville-based Internet company that announced in September plans to bring its fiber-optic network to Gainesville is finally ready to activate its $50 million investment.
IQ Fiber co-founders Ted Schremp and Kim Smithers told The Sun in an interview Thursday that they were in the final stages of setup and testing, and that the service will go live sometime this month.
Schremp, who also serves as the company’s president and CEO, said he is excited to bring a new option to Gainesville residents when it comes to home Internet.
“People perceive their cable provider to be a monopoly because, whether they’re really a monopoly or not, they’re often the only option, and an option isn’t an option,” Schremp said.
Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward, in a press release when the original IQ Fiber announcement was made, expressed a similar sentiment.
It has always been a priority of my policy to extend broadband competition in our community. I am pleased to see IQ Fiber expand into the Gainesville market and look forward to its presence here creating a variety of opportunities for all of our neighbors,” he said.
In describing the advantages of a fiber optic network, Schremp emphasized that DSL and cable were never designed for the Internet, and that fiber offers a much higher level of capacity and fast symmetrical speeds, which means that the upload and download speeds are the same.
“The biggest thing is that it’s dramatically more reliable,” he said of fiber.
Schremp said IQ Fiber, which started in August 2021 and currently serves Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns, is building 2 to 3 miles of fiber optic lines per day. This work has been evident to anyone driving west on Interstate 75 on Newberry Road, or in the various neighborhoods in the area. Piles of dirt from holes dug by workers to access utility easements have dotted the landscape for months.
And for residents who may be questioning whether or not IQ Fiber has the right to dig up their yards, Schremp said as a cable company, IQ Fiber operates under the Florida Department of State and is granted legal access to the easement of public services, that in May. Houses go underground about 10 feet on either side of a street.
Before work begins, they also work with the city, county and, depending on the road, the Florida Department of Transportation on design details.
Schremp said many residents have likely never seen an infrastructure project of this scale in their neighborhoods, and IQ Fiber has tried to keep the community informed about the process through mailings, door tags and emails.
“Our goal is always to minimize the disruption that any construction crew has going through the area, and we’re incredibly sensitive to the fact that residents are impacted by these projects,” Smithers said.
Smithers said that not all residents who have seen work in their neighborhoods will have immediate access to the network, and that the company will initially bring only a couple of neighborhoods online and then add more every few weeks.
“Obviously, there’s still a lot of construction, so it’s going to be a process for us to get all over Gainesville, but we’ll be bringing in our first customers this month,” he said.
Those interested in trying IQ Fiber can sign up online, at which point a crew will visit your home to bury the connection from the street that will generally run to where the home’s other utilities are located. During a second installation appointment, Smithers said IQ Fiber technicians will map out a customer’s home so they receive the most comprehensive Wi-Fi coverage.
“They have incredibly good tools to make sure every room in your house is fully covered by Wi-Fi,” he said.
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