Royalton, Vermont – October 11, 2017
When local residents began planning to build their own high-speed fiber-optic network back in
2007, few expected them to be able to surmount the many challenges facing a high-tech
start-up.
As of October 2017, the East Central Vermont Telecommunications District (ECFiber) has built
over 420 miles of cable and connected over 2,000 active customers in parts of 20 member
towns. It plans to complete another 170 miles of network this year and another 250 miles in
2018.
Tunbridge resident Pamela Whitney became customer number 2,000 when the ECFiber
installers arrived at her home recently. “I ordered 40Mbps service because, more and more, our
family is depending on the Internet – from streaming television and online gaming, to the work I
do from home for a company in Texas” Whitney reported. “My old DSL service was so painfully
slow I couldn’t get my work done when anyone else was using the Internet. I know even faster
200Mbps service is available from ECFiber, but right now ECFiber is everything I need at a price
I can afford, and I’ve got VOIP phone too.”
On the occasion of connecting the 2000th customer, District Chair Irv Thomae said “For years, rural Vermonters have told anyone who would listen that reliable, full-speed internet connectivity has become essential for their educational and economic survival. It is really satisfying to see the progress our towns have made by working together on this vital problem that corporate interests had largely ignored.”
ValleyNet CEO Carole Monroe commented “This is really an incredible accomplishment
considering that we’ve done this primarily with private investment and limited state funding.”
ValleyNet is the operating company for ECFiber.
ValleyNet CFO Stan Williams added “We’ve proven the ECFiber self-funding business model
with positive cash flow since 2016. Now with over 2000 paying customers, we have the flexibility
we need to further expand the network and reach every resident who wants our service.”
ECFiber customers receive symmetrical Internet service (same speed for uploads and
downloads) regardless of their location or their chosen service level (17, 40, 200, or 700
megabits/sec.) There are no contracts or data caps and customers are welcome to upgrade or
downgrade their service as they wish. Earlier this year, existing ECFiber customers received a
15% speed increase at no additional cost.
ECFiber is a consortium of 24 Vermont towns organized as a Communications Union District
(30 V.S.A. § 3052) with the mission to build a community-owned, locally-operated fiber-optic
network bringing fast and reliable broadband Internet service to every resident and business in
its member towns.
