Smithville launches new phase of gigabit fiber expansion to Ellettsville residents
Hartstrait Road project marks major milestone in fiber deployment for Ellettsville.
ELLETTSVILLE –Smithville launched a new fiber expansion project for Ellettsville residents on Hartstrait Road in late May, marking what Smithville Chairman and CEO Darby A. McCarty noted is “a major milestone in bringing high-speed fiber to Ellettsville, a long-time goal of our company.” The current project will create fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) capacity for more than 100 residents south of Ellettsville with completion expected by October 2020.
The Hartstrait Road project will complete the full deployment of Smithville fiber to the Ellettsville area, which began in May 2017. Initial project locations included southwest Ellettsville, expanding to include Thomas/Reeves Road, Ellettsville North, Downtown Ellettsville, and Edgewood. In total, Smithville fiber became available to 1,789 homes and businesses.
The fiber construction project includes homes that have been served by legacy copper-based technology for several years. “This new project reflects Smithville’s continuing commitment to connect communities with high-speed, reliable fiber, which is the standard going forward for new construction projects,” Ms. McCarty continued. Over the summer, new fiber connectivity will completely replace the previous copper service.
Residents in the southern Ellettsville region of Hartstrait Road will have the option to bring gigabit-speed (up to 1,000 Mbps) fiber into their homes. A wireless Giga-center router will offer symmetrical service (1,000 Mbps upload and download rates). Smithville customers will also have an opportunity to add Smithville’s streaming TV, voice services, Smithville Security, and home automation options.
“Our engineering teams and other workgroups have planned and designed this new FTTH expansion for the past several months. We are pleased to bring high-speed connectivity to Hartstrait Road residents,” said Paul Quick, Smithville President. “Many people depend on internet connectivity to work remotely and take part in online education. Smithville strives to help people do that with reliable and secure high-speed fiber service to their homes.”
Smithville has implemented a variety of measures for safely connecting customers, said Quick. “Our commitment to safety is one we take very seriously. We are closely monitoring and following the current guidance from leading government and health authorities to ensure we are taking the right actions to protect our customers, employees, and the communities that we serve while continuing to provide a service that is more critical today than ever before.”
About Smithville
Nationally recognized for more than a decade as a Top 100 Broadband Company, privately owned Smithville is Indiana’s largest independent telecom company with more than 200 employees. As a fifth-generation, family-owned business, Smithville has been committed to delivering fast and reliable connectivity and legendary service to its customers for nearly a century. The company is well-known as an industry leader and community supporter for rural Indiana.
Since the early 1990s, Smithville has constructed more than 2,800 miles of high-speed, high-capacity fiber across more than 17 Indiana counties, representing private investments totaling upward of a quarter of a billion dollars, including the recent completion of a $4.5 million, 100-gigabit fiber ring. In addition to its residential services, Smithville provides commercial fiber-based connectivity for businesses, university campuses, biotechnology companies, healthcare providers, government offices, residential centers, communities, and other entities, including the WestGate@Crane Technology Park and the Purdue Research Park. The company currently serves about 23,000 businesses and residences in southern and central Indiana. For more information, please visit www.smithville.com.
