Fiber Internet in Louisville

Richard and I have been working on getting Fiber to the door for 3 or 4 months and this week the city followed through with the first part of making this a reality. Part of the initiative from our monthly meetings was the creation of this website http://www.louisvillefiber.com -- if you have an interest in fiber to the door in Louisville, then please put your address in.

Thanks!

-Scott

I looked at your website, but do you really think there is another ISP out there who wants to spend the money on an infrastructure improvement here? Copper is still doing ok for me.

Yes, we do. Windstream has already expressed an interest before the RFI even went out. It will take a new company to disrupt things. An existing company isn't going to invest in the infrastructure to make things better because they don't have to!

Google has released a list of cities they're talking to about fiber.

Unfortunately, Louisville isn't on it.

[Robin Garr]

Kind of a shame to see cities we'd like to be like (Portland, Austin) and somewhat similar cities in our general region (Raleigh, Charlotte, Nashville) on the list and we're not.

I don't know whether to blame the specific failings of our metro merger, Mayor Jerry and Mayor Greg, or the decline and fall of the local newspaper, or maybe all three.

There's really not one thing you can blame, Robin. With projects like this, it's more about numbers. First, we have two providers of wired broadband already, and the market's a bit smaller than Nashville. Then there's the infrastructure. A lot of the older Louisville neighborhoods still have above ground electricity/communications, and you know those trees we all cherish? Combined they must be a maintenance nightmare for utility crews.

Also, it seems that it's not a done deal, and Nashville is being cautiously optimistic at best:

“The announcement is great but Nashville is only being considered – we're not a shoo-in yet,” says Alex Curtis of the Creators’ Freedom Project. “Not only is existing infrastructure going to be a big consideration but so is support. Mainly from our municipal government, the tech community, and our citizens. This is going to be a tremendous effort to make this happen, and I'm very excited about the possibilities.”