coffee
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
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- Location
- United States
Marshall, Michigan is a smaller city located in the southern part of the state of Michigan. The population is about 10,000 residences. However, They had a problem with Internet access. It seemed the only internet access was a company out of Grand Rapids, Michigan providing DSL and an other company providing cable line internet access. However, The cable lines in the city were in pretty bad shape and outages where very common with both providers. Comcast, Which would not touch the situation most likely because of the cost of re-cabling the whole city would not consider providing service. Therefore, For years Marshall suffered from poor internet access which hampered much of the residential and business needs. However, About a year ago Marshall finally got fed up with the situation and got smart.
Marshall, Michigan made the impressive decision to provide their own internet service. When this news came to me via a very large client in the form of an email I was at the least stoked. Providing remote support in the area was a virtual headache for me. Connecting remotely to servers and workstations in the area meant very slow screen refreshes and a lot of dropped connections. Therefore, Marshall decided they would give the local ISP's their walking papers to never return to the city.
This plan took a long time to complete. Most backbone equipment was in short supply as it was all being shipped to the southern states to rebuild from hurricane damage. Therefore, Acquiring the equipment needed certainly delayed the project several times. However, As of yesterday I am happy to report that Marshall FiberNET is now live servicing not everyone yet but most of the downtown district and residential area.
Friday I was called up to Marshall to oversee the installation of MFN at a business that I have been servicing for quite some time. I was happily greeted by not a cable run from the street but an actual fiber line right into the building and a beautiful new modem/router.
Basically, I had to switch over the server to the new service from the decaying ugly cable service they had. Normally its just a quick "Switch the network cable to the new modem and reboot for most residential customers" however, The office server handles many functions that the fiber modem provides. One being the DHCP service. So, We had a bit of an issue that was corrected by a single phone call, Talking to a real person and in english. I instructed them to turn off their DHCP service on the router. This was completed in at the most 10 minutes. This was a far cry from needing support from the old ISP which could take up to a day for even business clients (residential clients, Sometimes days!). After that was finished the network came to life and a speed test was done. The speed test was amazing - 100 down and 100 up with a static IP address!
The effect was immediate in the office. All the employees where asking "Hey, I cannot believe how fast our system is now!". Smiles started showing up on the employee's faces instead of the dreary dull looks that were common with the old ISP. Cost of such a connection you might ask? Well, 100 up and 100 down with a static IP on fibernet runs about 150.00 a month. Very affordable for businesses considering their needs. This service plan is their most expensive too. Lower speeds with a dynamic IP are available at very competitive prices compared to the competition. It seems Marshall made the right decision.
Since Marshall owns all the infrastructure right down to the lines heading into the customers, This effectively locks out any competition in the area. None of the current ISP's (or comcast for that matter) wants to replace the older cable runs to provide their service in the area. The only viable solution for those that want fast and dependable internet is thru MarshallFiber. Of course the cost of doing this is extensive. However, Marshall will benefit from this many years down the road. Also, This will provide an avenue for me to expand my remote support in the area and be an attractive asset to many new small businesses in the area.
Good Job Marshall!
https://marshallfibernet.com/
Marshall, Michigan made the impressive decision to provide their own internet service. When this news came to me via a very large client in the form of an email I was at the least stoked. Providing remote support in the area was a virtual headache for me. Connecting remotely to servers and workstations in the area meant very slow screen refreshes and a lot of dropped connections. Therefore, Marshall decided they would give the local ISP's their walking papers to never return to the city.
This plan took a long time to complete. Most backbone equipment was in short supply as it was all being shipped to the southern states to rebuild from hurricane damage. Therefore, Acquiring the equipment needed certainly delayed the project several times. However, As of yesterday I am happy to report that Marshall FiberNET is now live servicing not everyone yet but most of the downtown district and residential area.
Friday I was called up to Marshall to oversee the installation of MFN at a business that I have been servicing for quite some time. I was happily greeted by not a cable run from the street but an actual fiber line right into the building and a beautiful new modem/router.
Basically, I had to switch over the server to the new service from the decaying ugly cable service they had. Normally its just a quick "Switch the network cable to the new modem and reboot for most residential customers" however, The office server handles many functions that the fiber modem provides. One being the DHCP service. So, We had a bit of an issue that was corrected by a single phone call, Talking to a real person and in english. I instructed them to turn off their DHCP service on the router. This was completed in at the most 10 minutes. This was a far cry from needing support from the old ISP which could take up to a day for even business clients (residential clients, Sometimes days!). After that was finished the network came to life and a speed test was done. The speed test was amazing - 100 down and 100 up with a static IP address!
The effect was immediate in the office. All the employees where asking "Hey, I cannot believe how fast our system is now!". Smiles started showing up on the employee's faces instead of the dreary dull looks that were common with the old ISP. Cost of such a connection you might ask? Well, 100 up and 100 down with a static IP on fibernet runs about 150.00 a month. Very affordable for businesses considering their needs. This service plan is their most expensive too. Lower speeds with a dynamic IP are available at very competitive prices compared to the competition. It seems Marshall made the right decision.
Since Marshall owns all the infrastructure right down to the lines heading into the customers, This effectively locks out any competition in the area. None of the current ISP's (or comcast for that matter) wants to replace the older cable runs to provide their service in the area. The only viable solution for those that want fast and dependable internet is thru MarshallFiber. Of course the cost of doing this is extensive. However, Marshall will benefit from this many years down the road. Also, This will provide an avenue for me to expand my remote support in the area and be an attractive asset to many new small businesses in the area.
Good Job Marshall!
https://marshallfibernet.com/
