County fiber loop project is underway
Rural internet speeds should significantly improve
By fall, internet customers across rural western Marathon County should start to experience much improved service.
Mitchel Olson, Chief Development Officer for Bug Tussel Wireless, LLC., Green Bay, said his company has started installation of a 300 mile fiber optic loop across Marathon County along with 22 transmitter towers. In either September or October, rural internet customers should start to see dramatic improvements in service. The Bug Tussel official said there is no practical limit on how much information can be carried with the 144-strand fiber optic cables that will be installed within roadside ditches four feet underground.
“It’s an absolute ton,” he said. “It is only limited by colors in the rainbow.”
In addition to improving internet service, strategic installation of the 300 foot guide-wire towers will improve cellular telephone service and respond to situations where rural residents with failing copper wire telephone service have not been able to dial 911 for emergency help.
Olson said ATT has partnered with Bug Tussel to put transmitters on six towers. One tower will go up on the border between Hamburg and Halsey town- ships, where cell phone service is notoriously spotty.
“The towers will fill in some holes,” he said.
Olson said installation of fiber optic cable started in early May in the southcentral part of Marathon County. He said crews will likely install the cable in western Marathon County within six to eight weeks.
The fiber is installed within two-inch bright orange conduit stored on large wooden spools. Materials for the fiber loop project have been stored at the Marathon County Highway Department shop located on STH 97.
Olson said installation of fiber optic cable is “a long process.” It starts with a crew of four to five workers with a bulldozer- powered plow digging a trench in town or county right-of-way. Things go quickly, he said, in sandy, soft soils, but slow up when horizontal drilling in rock is required. Olson said his company tried to minimize drilling in its engineering process. “We did our best to avoid problematic areas,” he said.
Olson said erection of Bug Tussel towers are “all in progress.” The company is trying to get government approval for many of them. Towers have to meet a myriad of federal communication regulations, he said, as well as local government zoning.
Olson said his company is able to obtain towers without any supply chain backlogs.
“The price of towers has gone up,” he said. “But we still have the standard six to eight week lead times.”
Olson said a combination of tower transmission and fiber loops will improve internet service until the day when fiber to the home becomes a reality in rural America.
“Definitely, things will improve,” he said. “Our fixed wireless service will cast a wide net to deliver a comfortable level of service. This is a process not un- like rural electrification in the 1940’s.”
Bug Tussel’s goal will be to deliver internet speeds of 25 megabits per second download and five megabits per second upload. Cost for this basic package will be $49.99 per month. Customers can ramp up service to one gigabit per second upload and download for $100 per month.
