Eagan to get first-of-its-kind, high-speed Internet service
Velocity Telephone’s ‘Metro Ring Fiber’ network will offer Internet speeds up to 10 times faster
by Erin Johnson
Thisweek Newspapers
Eagan residents and businesses will be the first in the country to have access to a “self-healing” fiber network that claims to offer faster, more reliable Internet service.
Velocity Telephone, a Twin Cities telecommunications provider, broke ground on the Eagan Community Fiber Network April 19.
The network will be the nation’s first “Metro Ring,” in which individual fiber optic lines running to homes and businesses will form interconnected circular networks throughout the city.
“Only optical fiber offers high-speed, high-quality, high-capacity bandwidth to accommodate today’s technology needs and the needs we envision in the future,” said Velocity President Jim Hickle.
Not only will the service offer Internet at speeds up to 10 times faster than what’s currently available, the lines themselves are more reliable, Hickle said.
Copper wires or coaxial cable offered by other providers offer a single pathway into a home or business, so when a line is accidentally cut, so is service.
Velocity installs its fiber optic lines with more than one pathway, so it becomes a self-healing network, he said.
“We put a redundant pathway in and out of the home and business,” he said. “So they would have to cut both sides for people to be out of service.”
Fiber optics have many advantages over traditional technologies, he said, the biggest of which is the lack of limitations on how fast it can go.
Currently, Velocity is offering speeds of up to one gigabyte – or 1,000 megabits per second – which is about 1,000 times faster than a traditional T1 line. Other providers offer up to a maximum of 100 megabits per second, he said.
“Nobody’s found the maximum speed fiber can go at,” he said. “Once you get fiber into the home and into businesses, you can literally do anything because there are no physical limits to what fiber can do for the user.”
Velocity will begin by installing the network in the northwest quadrant of Eagan, south of Lone Oak Road between Lexington Avenue and I-35E. Yankee Doodle Road will serve as the southern border of the network, which should be up and running by June.
Additional phases will expand the network throughout the city. Hickle said he hopes to reach some residential areas this year or next.
Mayor Mike Maguire said high-speed Internet access for all Eagan residents and businesses has been among the City Council’s top priorities.
“High-speed Internet is essential in today’s fast-paced, media-heavy world,” he said, adding the city is very excited to be the first community in the country to get the network.
Hickle said he’s been in talks with cities around the metro area about the network for years, but Eagan stood out as a candidate.
The city has a strong presence on a statewide broadband task force, and has been a leader in pushing for faster Internet speeds.
“Eagan has always been a very progressive community as far as we were concerned,” he said. “We think they really get it.”
For more information, visit www.velocitytelephone.com.
Erin Johnson is at eagan.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.1
