
Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
Wadsworth, Ohio officials say they’re making steady progress on the expansion of a city-owned broadband network that’s extending affordable fiber connectivity to the city’s nearly 25,000 residents.
Originally a coaxial-based network, the city now says it’s in the process of delivering Wi-Fi to many city residents while they go block-by-block removing older coaxial cable and upgrading residents to more future-proof fiber optic connectivity.
All told, city officials say they currently have around 5,800 existing subscribers that will ultimately be upgraded to fiber.
Wadsworth, Ohio first launched its hybrid fiber-coaxial CityLink network back in 1997, and has been offering broadband, television, and phone access to the community ever since.
In 2020 ILSR spoke with Wadsworth IT Manager Steve Lange in Episode 438 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast.
Affordable, Popular Alternatives To Monopoly Power
The network, unlike many similar deployments, is separate from the city’s municipal electric department. Wadsworth Assistant Service Director Mike Testa recently told the Medina County Gazette that the city has completed around 400 fiber installations so far, including a recently updated area along Weatherstone Drive where 120 homes were connected.
“In the underground neighborhoods, we are basically taking everybody off the cable, sticking them on a Wi-Fi solution while the old cable is pulled out,” Testa said of the upgrade process. “The new fiber goes in, and then they will come back onto the network. We are pretty well through the bulk of our first underground installation.”
Testa told the local news outlet the next fiber upgrade target areas will be roughly 30 new subscribers in cul-de-sacs north of Weatherstone, as well as installations along Tolbert Street, Euclid Avenue, Water Street, and Mills Street.
The improvements are a combination of new aerial and underground fiber runs, something the provider’s just getting used to.
“We really needed to get a sense of what kind of pace can we go through the underground areas,” Testa said. “We know that we can do aerial, because we have had plenty of experience with that. It’s nice to have this under our belt.”
CityLink currently offers six tiers of broadband access for subscribers still on the city's existing coaxial-based cable broadband network:
Customers that are upgraded to fiber have the option of five tiers of symmetrical service:
All of the company’s broadband tiers come without broadband usage caps, long-term contracts, or hidden fees.
Many municipalities and smaller ISPs have jettisoned the TV business due to the ever-increasing cost of licensing programming.
But Wadsworth not only provides cable TV service, they’re converting customers to streaming TV services (ranging from $35 to $110 per month) as users are upgraded to fiber.
The Wadsworth Citylink website offers additional details and a FAQ regarding the city’s ongoing upgrade process.
The city says the full coaxial fiber upgrade will take approximately 30 months, but did not respond to a request for comment seeking data on full deployment cost.
Ohio Municipalities Blaze A Popular Trail
There are 16 U.S. states that currently have protectionist laws, lobbied for by regional telecom monopolies, banning or restricting popular community broadband networks like the one in Wadsworth.
Despite relentless lobbying by telecom monopolies in 2021, Ohio has so far resisted becoming the 17th such state.
As a result community-owned and operated alternatives continue to make successful inroads in the state, whether it’s the triple-play offerings in Wadworth, or the award-winning and extremely popular FairlawnGig network in Fairlawn, Ohio, where subscribers saw their Internet bills drop and speeds get raised while most of the nation was embroiled in debates over inflation.
Such networks routinely provide faster, cheaper service than incumbent regional monopolies that see little market or regulatory pressure to meaningfully compete on coverage, speed, price, product quality, or customer service.
As a result, Ohio locals have routinely lent their support in trying to prevent companies like Charter from banning municipal broadband in the state.
Private and municipally-owned ISPs alike are now competing for more than $793 million in Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grants made possible by the 2021 Infrastructure bill.
Inline images courtesy of City of Wadsworth Facebook page