REGIONAL— After years of frustration over the lack of high-speed internet at the end of the road, the evidence of a solution is everywhere these days. And it’s all coming to nearby Tower and Soudan next year.
“We’re seeing a lot of construction activity,” said Ely Clerk-Treasurer Harold Langowski. “They’re drilling holes and hanging line all over these days.”
The work crews are in town via Sioux Falls-based Midco, who has long been the cable provider in Ely, Tower, and a number of other northeastern Minnesota communities. Midco has offered high-speed internet service, including speeds of 200 megs download, 20 upload, for some time in Ely and Tower. But with their latest upgrades, part of a $500 million investment in their network, Midco will be offering lightning-fast internet, with promised speeds of at least 1 gigabit download and 200 megs upload.
That’s according to Melissa Wolf, government relations manager for Midco.
The company’s investment looks poised to solve a problem that has rankled residents in Ely for years. After the Lake Connections project—which was supposed to provide direct fiber optic connections to residences in Ely— ran out of funding before getting that far, city officials have explored any number of possibilities. Working with Baxter-based CTC, they completed a relatively modest broadband loop in a portion of the city’s downtown about a year ago. They’ve worked with an Ely-based startup, known as Treehouse Broadband, to provide a wireless connection in places where the trees and terrain cooperate, and that’s had some success according to Langowski.
But the speeds and price range that Midco should soon be able to provide to residents in Ely will be tough to beat. With the planned upgrade, Wolf said Midco is planning to begin offering its current 200/20 service for just $49 a month beginning in August.
Its one-gig/200 service, which will be available to customers on a rolling basis beginning later this summer, should be priced at under $100 a month, according to Wolf. They expect to have all of their current customers who wish to upgrade connected by late this year, or possibly early next year.
A similar upgrade is planned for both Tower and Soudan beginning next year, which will upgrade Midco’s current top speed of 200/20 to the same one-gig/200 speeds soon to be offered in Ely.
Given the previous false starts and disappointments, Langowski said he was a bit skeptical when he got the call from Midco alerting the city of their plans. But he said he’s become a believer since all the equipment and work crews started showing up in town. The company also purchased property next to the Holiday station for its communications hub. “They’ve pretty much been busy all summer,” he said.
The new service should be a boon for businesses needing high speed access, although Langowski wonders how many residential customers will need the kind of speeds that Midco will soon be able to offer. “Two-hundred megs is spectacular for 99 percent of the population,” he said.
Midco is one of at least three internet providers now serving these area communities. Frontier and CTC also offer internet services, although CTC is currently focusing its attention on business customers.