The future is fiber, and Surf Internet has been a fiber leader in Northwest Indiana, implementing fiber across the Region in places like La Porte, Culver, and Knox. Lately, much of Surf Internet’s attention has been focused on serving Porter County’s fiber needs. After developing a relationship with Portage schools, Surf Internet decided to extend that connection to the City of Portage.
“We've been working with Portage Township Schools, so we’ve served about 10 schools and 6,500 students for five years,” said Scott Franko, director of Business Development and Community Relations. “We're one of the top providers of broadband when it comes to serving schools in the States of Indiana and Illinois. In light of our relationship with the school, we saw the greater need, and it makes sense to build out fiber to the home and fiber throughout the community in Portage.”
To celebrate this milestone, Surf Internet held a ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by The Greater Portage Chamber of Commerce to officially welcome them to the community on Tuesday, August 29.
Portage Chamber’s Executive Director Nancy Simpson is excited about its new partner’s expansion and what it will bring to the Portage community.
“I've actually had people call excited saying that they heard Surf Internet is coming to town,” Simpson said. “They're really investing a lot in the community. We now have choices and that is a good thing.”
Surf provides its customers with high-speed, symmetrical internet service and a price cap so it remains affordable, a service that many other broadband providers do not offer. This alone will help Portage locals and as expansion continues, the city will enter a new era of communication.
“Our residents really want options. I mean, not everything is always affordable,” said Portage Mayor Sue Lynch.
Franko believes fiber-optic internet is impactful to any community regardless of whether it’s a small, rural community, or a larger community like Portage. Much like its Valpo location, Surf Internet plans to bring an all-around better internet experience to the locals.
“We make it easy for people and we're proud that we bring fiber-optic internet to people and they can have an affordable option and overall better service experience, and it’s transformative for communities,” said Franko.
Surf Internet plans to break down its footprint in Portage into multiple serving areas. Each of these serving areas has an average of 300 addresses, and Surf Internet will work in one serving area at a time until it is completed. During construction, Surf Internet notifies residents in the serving area about the process and when they can connect to the fiber infrastructure.
“What we really want is a spirit of cooperation with the community. Our approach is different from a lot of other providers; we really want to work hand-in-hand with the community. We're working together, we're mitigating issues together, we're communicating together, and we’re working out a permanent process,” Franko said.
This commitment to communication better equips the communities Surf Internet serves to use fiber to its full capacity. With the increase in remote work, schooling, and other crucial aspects of society, securing a city’s internet connection through various broadband solutions is not a small ordeal.
“With our core values, we're always using innovations to help solve broadband solutions. Today, your best solution for broadband is fiber. We believe when a community embraces fiber, they are future-proofing themselves,” Franko said.
Fiber drives innovation on personal and professional levels, and Franko calls fiber the great equalizer because of the transformative impact fiber brings with its implementation. It allows people to seize new opportunities without moving to large, urban cities and paves the way to attract more people to the area.
“When a serving area goes live, we say it’s ‘lit up.’ We say that because it's literally light. We're bringing light to a community. Data comes through fiber in the form of light versus the way it comes traditionally through DSL or over copper wires. It's light traveling through glass, so it travels at the speed of light,” Franko said.
The current total area Surf Internet is designing and constructing includes four serving areas (pictured on the right). These serving areas contain a total of 1,480 addresses that will be impacted by fiber implementation. Later this year, Surf Internet will plan out three more serving areas that will bring fiber to approximately 1,063 addresses.
For more information about Surf Internet and its implementation of fiber in Portage, visit surfinternet.com.
