Ultra-fast internet headed to Wake Forest

Wake Forest could become the first fiber-network ultra-fast internet town in the Triangle if negotiations underway between the town and RST Fiber are successful.

“It looks like it’s going to happen,” Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell said Tuesday when asked about the negotiations and fast internet for town residents and businesses.

Later Tuesday RST’s CEO and founder, Dan Limerick, who was on the West Coast, said, “Things are moving forward rapidly in Wake Forest and the city officials and RST should be finalizing a plan soon to bring ‘State of the Art’ broadband to your area. Stay tuned.”

It is all happening as fast as the fiber network itself.

Discussions about a fiber network for the town began in January, the town board appointed seven people to a task force in February, and last week Limerick, came to town with CTO Randy Revels for a lengthy meeting at the same time two technicians were measuring distances with a LIDAR-equipped vehicle, preparing for installation.

The town has a new survey to gauge interest – http://www.wakeforestnc.gov/fiber-to-the-home-survey/aspx — and is encouraging everyone to take the survey.

What will it mean for many people?

Daniel Holt, one of the task force members, said RST will use two technologies, a fiber optic internet for home use (FTTH, Fiber To The Home) and a mesh gigabit wireless network all over town installed on electric poles and street lights.

“Their goal is to serve WF en masse and not cherry-pick new neighborhoods,” Holt wrote on his website, http://www.wakeforestfiber.com.

RST plans to provide 1,000mbps internet service to homes for $99 a month plus ala carte TV service and super high definition video. All the pricing has not been set or is not available now. Most homes experience only 9.8mbps on current internet services.

RST’s network will find its most positive response from the area businesses who rely on high-speed connections – think of the defense contractor 3 Phoenix or the Wireless Research Center of North Carolina – and from area residents who could work at home and telecommunicate to upload/download large files and other information.

”The Wireless Center is excited about the possibility of fiber availability for our community in the near future. It speaks well of Wake Forest at large that we are able to be forward thinking. The town’s ability to bring the right assets to bear to make our town globally competitive is impressive. The Wireless Center is thrilled to be part of this community for these exact reasons and is supportive of this initiative,” Larry Steffann, general manager at the Wireless Center, wrote today.   

RST is moving aggressively into the ultra-high-speed internet arena. In mid-March the privately held company headquartered in Shelby announced it would be installing its networks in Raleigh, Charlotte and Asheville with two months.

Those announcements came about a month after Google Fiber announced it was considering installing its own high-speed network in Raleigh and Durham along with Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Garner and Morrisville. Wake Forest was not included because it did not apply for consideration five years ago.

RST has a fiber network of about 3,100 miles stretching across North Carolina and uses Cisco technology to operate the network. According to other source Limerick expects telemedicine, online education and other uses to use the network for its faster connectivity.

You can read more about the company at http://www.rsttv.com/fiber. You can also type in your name and address to find out when the service will be available – currently the website just responds by saying you will be notified at that time.

The members of the town’s task force are Joe Freddoso, the president and chairman of MCNC; Chris Morgan with Red Hat; Brent Miller with Echobase Software; Daniel Holt with 3 Phoenix; Curtis Brothers with WCPE Radio; Marla Akridge, president of the Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce; and Roe O’Donnell, the deputy town manager.