The Anderson City Council approved rates for lit fiber optic cables and wireless service for the Anderson Municipal Light and Power utility.
The city’s expanding fiber optic cables allow customers to set up their own internal communications or tap into large bandwidth Internet connections.
A government entity, such as Madison County, would pay $50 per month for point-to-point lit fiber optic cable. Businesses that hook up to the service would have to pay $150 per month for up to 10 megabits for point-to-point hook-up to use the high-speed communications service, and $200 per month for up to five megabits for point-to-Internet service provider hookup. The higher the megabits, the faster the service.
Lit fiber, according to Tom Donoho, superintendent for Municipal Light and Power, runs through city equipment, instead of on-site equipment, making it cheaper, but slower, than dark fiber.
Dark fiber, rates of which were approved two years ago, means that Municipal Light and Power would take a piece of wire and connect it from point a to point b, making the speed faster, said Donoho. Dark fiber requires that a company pay for more equipment. Places such as Anderson University use this service.
The city is not partnering with any specific Internet service provider, and the charges for the service would go through the Internet Service Provider.
The council also approved wireless rates, which does not require wiring for service, for both government and business entities. The wireless service connects to a tower that provides a signal, similar to a cellular phone. For $50 per month, a customer can have a one-megabit connection.
The fiber optic line is one attraction companies look at when choosing business locations. Todd Rokita, Indiana secretary of state, said in an interview that Anderson’s fiber optic line impressed the Nestlé corporation.
Darren Grile, network supervisor for the city, said Municipal Light and Power has been working with fiber optics for about a decade.
“Ten years ago we started putting up fiber optics for our substations,” he said. The connection was more reliable than the previous one, Grile said.
In the past couple of years, Municipal Light and Power started leasing dark fibers to Anderson Community School Corp., the Flagship Enterprise Center and other bigger companies. This service costs $100 per mile of connection per month. For example, AU connects to iLight, a service that connects the colleges throughout the state. The city provided a dark fiber from AU to iLight. AU pays for the wire connection that connects the college to iLight.
The lit fiber optic cables are essentially the byproduct of the automated meter reading, Grile said. The AMR uses only a portion of the fiber optics, so some of the fiber can be allotted to other services.
Municipal Light and Power started testing the lit fiber optics with iQuest, an Internet service provider, about three years ago, Grile said.
Businesses can connect to the fiber optic line or the wireless service by calling Municipal Light and Power at (765) 648-6480.
Fiber optic fees
• Government entities: $50 per month
• Businesses: $150 per month, point to point; $200 per month, point to Internet provider
Wireless fees:
• Government entities: $50 per month
• Businesses: $50 per month
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City approves rates for fiber optics and wireless
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