John Howell Sr. 11/5/2013
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, November 5, 2013
That Batesville has been selected as a C Spire “Get Fiber First” finalist is good news for the community and gives the folks who pushed this so hard and fast good reason to look back at what they’ve done with a great measure of civic pride.
Batesville is one of nine cities named, from a total of 33 that were seeking selection.
Having that first, big step behind us, we need now to focus on what comes next. Apparently, instead of selecting one city exclusively to first receive the service, the vigorous response from the nine cities selected as finalists convinced C Spire to began construction in neighborhoods of each city where a high percentage of homeowners pre-register for the service.
Here’s where we put up our money — but it’s not much. C Spire asks for a $10 refundable deposit to pre-register, plus credit card information. We need to pre-register as many people in Batesville as possible as quickly as possible.
“When a critical number of neighborhoods reach their percentage goals in an individual city, C Spire plans to begin construction in those areas, C Spire Fiber senior vice president Gregg Logan said. Soon C Spire’s Fiber to the Home web site —www.cspire.com/fiberhome—will show neighborhoods in each community and the percentage of residents needed to reach their goals.
That web site is not yet ready to accept the pre-registrations but it could be by the time you reach these lines in print. Already it answers questions about features and costs for the ultra high-speed Internet.
Community leadership and citizens mobilized rapidly to convince C Spire that Batesville wants the fiber optic Internet. The response was timely, flexible and obviously very effective.
Let’s now take the next step. Pre-register as soon as it becomes available. Convince your neighbors to sign up as well.
Having access to this ultra high-speed fiber optic Internet will place a powerful tool into the hands of the creative minds among us.