Fiber optic project will speed up Internet for businesses

Most of Clear Lake’s businesses and industries will soon have access to high speed Gigabit Internet service because of an extensive fiber optic network project this fall.

“This is the high speed Internet service that businesses across the nation are craving,” said CL Tel General Manager Tom Lovell.  “It provides the competitive edge that our local businesses need and is an important key to recruiting new industry.”

Businesses in the industrial park, business park and the Fieldstone area are being connected to the fiber optic network.  With download speeds that are 100 times faster than the typical download speed, businesses can be more productive.  This means faster credit card transactions, clearer video conferences and webinars and better collaboration with workers off-site.  The higher speeds provide more flexibility for both small and large businesses for work on the go and gives access to next generation services.

Residential customers in these areas will be connected this fall, as well.  The high speeds for residents make it possible to telecommute to work from home, stream Netflix “buffer-free” and download large graphics files quickly.

“A fiber optics network provides the broadband infrastructure that is essential to our community’s and our country’s economic success,” said CL Tel President Jan Lovell.  “We want our local businesses to thrive.   We’re firm believers that our local businesses should have at least the same advanced technology as a business in a large city.  With our local service and responsiveness in rolling out new services, it’s our mission to provide service that is superior to that offered in a large city.”

While a fiber-to-the-home network is initially more expensive to  construct, fiber optics provide a more secure, virtually unlimited capacity for data, voice and video services.  Wireless services, although less expensive to deploy, have a limited bandwidth capacity and some security issues.  Ultimately, fiber optics provide a backbone infrastructure to integrate all high speed Internet, interactive TV and “smart home” uses like energy efficiency and home security, better shared information and collaboration.

CL Tel was one of the early providers of fiber optics in Iowa, installing its first fiber optical network in 1989 to connect all long distance calls to Iowa Network Services.  Other fiber optics projects have methodically been deployed throughout the years in Clear Lake and Ventura.