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Jon Brodkin-January 12, 2021 at 12:30 PM UTC
When your problem is not that there is no good Internet service, the old adage "If you want to do things well, do it yourself" usually does not help. But for a man named Jared Mauch in rural Michigan, who happened to be a network architect, the solution to poor broadband at home was actually to build his own fiber-optic Internet service provider.
"I have to start a telephone company to get [high-speed] Internet access in my home," Mauch explained in a recent speech that his new ISP serves his home in Scio Township near Ann Arbor. Like dozens of other families in Washtenaw County.
Mauch is a senior network architect at Akamai. In his daily work, he moved into his house in 2002. At that time, when 1.5Mbps was "a great Internet connection," he got a T1 line, he said. As broadband technology advances, Mauch predicts that ISPs will eventually connect his house with cables or optical fibers. It never happened.
He eventually switched to a wireless Internet service provider that provided about 50Mbps. Moher once contacted Comcast, and Comcast told him that extending the cable TV network to his home would cost $50,000. "If they set it at $10,000, I would write them a check," Mauch told Ars. "US$50,000 is so high that it makes me think about whether it's worth it. If I get nothing, why should I pay them to expand their network?"
He said that about five years ago, the current telephone company AT&T finally provided DSL to Mauch. However, AT&T's plan to promote its community is only 1.5Mbps, which is a good speed in 2002, not 2020. AT&T stopped providing basic DSL to new customers in October, and did not upgrade many rural areas to modern alternatives, leaving users like Mauch without any good choices.
But about four years ago, Mauch began planning to establish its own provider, and now provides fiber-to-the-home broadband in parts of Scio Township and Lima Township. So far, Mauch has installed 5 miles of fiber and started contacting his first customers a few months ago. By the beginning of January, Mauch told us that he had connected 30 households and there were about 10 households that needed to be connected. He initially thought he would attract about 35% of potential customers to purchase the service, but in reality this proportion is about 70%. He said Mauch’s unconnected customers usually rely on cellular services.
The company name of Mauch is Washtenaw Fiber Properties LLC, and it is registered as a competitive access provider with the Michigan State Government. Although technically a telephone company, Mauch only provides Internet services and does not provide any telephone or TV services.
"My tariffs are really interesting," Mauch said, explaining that the documents he was asked to submit to the state explained that his company only provides services based on personal circumstances.
Mauch said he has spent approximately US$145,000, of which US$95,000 was used by the contractor who installed most of the fiber optic conduit. Fiber optic lines are usually about 6 feet underground, and in some cases 10 or 20 feet underground, to avoid gas pipes and other obstructions.
The largest construction phase begins in March 2020. Mauch asked the contractor to install two sets of pipes side by side because it cost no more than installing one set of pipes. Having an additional current empty duct gives Mauch the option to add more fibers later; he can also rent or sell the empty duct to another telephone company.
Installing the actual fiber optic cable into the duct was a task that Mauch did himself. The cost of a fiber blower may exceed $26,000, but Mauch said he built one using a rented air compressor and parts valued at about $50 from a hardware store. Mauch said that he also spent $8,000 to purchase a directional drilling rig that can install cables or conduits under driveways and roads without digging large holes.
Mauch purchased Internet connection and bandwidth for his ISP from ACD.net, a large network provider, but ACD.net has not yet been deployed to the fiber optic line near Mauch. Mauch therefore installed two miles of fiber from his home to the nearest underground cable vault of ACD.net, where he connected his fiber to their network. The bandwidth provided by ACD.net is now transmitted to the fiber distribution panel of Mauch Property, making Mauch's house a hub for providing customers with connectivity. Mauch also purchased a backup connection from 123Net to provide redundancy. If Mauch sells his house, he said he plans to grant himself easements to access certain ISP-related equipment on the property.
The ISP equipment in Mauch's home includes an Arista router for talking to ACD.net; a Ubiquiti optical line terminal; an Intel NUC server for network monitoring, graphics, and client speed testing; a Mac Mini for backup; and a backup Raspberry Pi 4 with DHCP server. He also has a family backup generator, although his customers may still lose their connection in the event of a power outage.
In the customer's home, Mauch installed the Mikrotik RBFTC11 media converter with Ubiquiti PON to Ethernet module. The customer can provide his own wireless router, or buy one from Mauch at a cost price-he does not rent the router, which is usually an uneconomical transaction for the customer.
Mauch initially estimated that the project would cost US$60,000, but in the end it was more than doubled. Some customers have spent US$5,000 upfront to help offset construction costs, and will earn years of service points in exchange for the network after it is built. Based on Mauch's investment amount and his expected income, he estimates that he will achieve breakeven within 42 months.
"I copied a prepaid model from an experienced existing ISP," Mauch said, noting that he learned from the experience of several ISPs. One of the ISPs Mauch learned from is Vergennes Broadband in Michigan, which is a provider we wrote about in 2015. Now that Mauch has established an ISP, he said that he has provided advice to several others who are working on similar projects of his own.
Construction is not easy. Mauch received a stoppage order from the county because he did not install enough piles along the right of way. Mauch was also confused by the requirement to provide 48 hours notice before going to work-he said he didn't realize that he needed to provide that notice every time his team worked. "Licensing agencies don't always know what their requirements are... This is a barrier to entry for new suppliers like me," Moher told us.
When a machine is stolen from a workplace in Mauch, there is another obstacle. “We actually found it for sale on Facebook, and thanks to the hard work of the police and our own research, we also managed to restore it,” he said.
He said the pandemic helped Mauch because there is less road traffic and people are usually at home, which makes fiber to home easier. The pandemic has also helped local residents realize the importance of broadband access, which may increase the registration rate of Mauch services.
Mauch’s symmetric 50Mbps service costs US$65 per month, 250Mbps is US$75, and 500Mbps is US$99. Depending on the complexity of the installation, the installation fee is up to US$199 (recently, the fee for new registrations has increased to US$599). If the house is more than 200 feet away from the road, he charges an extra 45 cents per foot to extend the cable.
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