CL Tel launches fiber optic network project

Clear Lake’s businesses and more residents will have access to high speed Gigabit Internet service – up to 100 times faster than the typical download speed - with a fiber optic network project launched this week by CL Tel.

“The City is extraordinarily fortunate that CLTel is committed to making Clear Lake a “Gigabit Community,” said Clear Lake City Administrator Scott Flory.  “This kind of cutting-edge technology is rarely available in Iowa and, in particular, in a community our size.”

“I believe the potential for increased speeds and reliability will be a great advantage to the City as an economic development tool,” Clear Lake Mayor Nelson Crabb said.  “A greater number of businesses and industries today demand this kind of infrastructure in making a decision to locate in a community, no different than water, roads, rail, or sanitary sewer.

“Being able to offer this level of “lightning fast” speed will help set us apart as a City,” Crabb noted.

  Businesses can be more productive with the high speed Internet, said CL Tel General Manager Tom Lovell.  This means faster data transmission between other facilities, speedier 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.

“A fiber optics network provides the broadband infrastructure that is essential to our community’s and our country’s economic success,” Lovell said.  “We want our local businesses to thrive.”

More residential customers will be connected this spring, 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.

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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.

Contractors with CL Tel are currently contacting businesses and residents in the new fiber area who have been notified by CL Tel.  The project area is roughly east of North 8th Street, south of Highway 18 and north of Main Avenue, east to the city limits. Project area residents who have received a letter about the project are encouraged to call Krystal Nielsen with Patriot Communications at 319-899-6008 or e-mail [email protected]  to set up a brief appointment to discuss fiber placement and other details.

Construction has begun this week in the continuation of the 2015 fiber project north of Highway 18 and west of Fieldstone.

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

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