Updated
Updated · Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3 · Jul 12
Brightspeed Starts Fiber Build for 6,700 Baraboo-Area Sites as Wisconsin Expansion Reaches 30%
Updated
Updated · Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3 · Jul 12

Brightspeed Starts Fiber Build for 6,700 Baraboo-Area Sites as Wisconsin Expansion Reaches 30%

1 articles · Updated · Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3 · Jul 12

Summary

  • More than 6,700 Baraboo-area homes and businesses entered Brightspeed’s latest fiber construction phase, while service is already live for over 1,100 customers.
  • Brightspeed said the build is meant to replace legacy copper lines that rural customers say deliver unreliable phone and internet service, with outages, slow speeds and weather-related disruptions.
  • 8,225 locations are planned in the broader Baraboo area, alongside 8,648 in Columbia County, 943 in Dane County, 376 in Iowa County and 98 in Vernon County.
  • 213,000 Wisconsin locations are targeted in the wider rollout, which Brightspeed said is now 30% complete as neighborhood construction activity increases.

Insights

As Brightspeed's new fiber promises speed, will its customer service escape the legacy of 184 complaints and long repair delays?
With millions in public funds, will this fiber expansion bring affordable internet or just subsidize corporate growth in rural Wisconsin?
As big-city internet speeds arrive in Baraboo, what parts of small-town life might be lost in the transition?