How Municipal Broadband Helped an Ohio Town Cope During the Pandemic

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit hard starting in 2020, residents of Fairlawn (OH) were well-prepared to work and attend school online, while people living in some of the surrounding towns struggled with slower, less reliable internet service. Fairlawn, a relatively affluent Akron suburb of about 7,500 residents, built its own fiber-based internet service called FairlawnGig in 2017. When FairlawnGig launched, it offered people in town gigabit-speed service at a time when the existing internet providers could provide service with a maximum speed of 25 megabits per second service to consumers—barely meeting a minimal definition of broadband—and 50 Mbps to businesses, according to Fairlawn's public service director Ernie Staten. Municipal broadband has been debated as one remedy to the digital divide, which becomes more evident as the pandemic continues. Local officials are hoping to extend FairlawnGig’s reach to the rest of Summit County (OH) with pandemic funds; using funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, Fairlawn built a broadband “ring” around the county, initially for criminal justice facilities. This fall construction will begin on a project that could eventually extend service to a number of additional communities in the region.